Misunderstandings
by Kku-ki7792
Summary: This is what happens when one makes just a little misunderstanding. Paine/Baralai fic, a little Rikku/Gippal and Yuna/Tidus on the side. My first fic Hope you enjoy it
1. Living in a raging inferno

Disclaimer: I do not own FF, just my crazy imagination and love for fanfiction ^^

This is the edited version of the prologue of Misunderstandings. For those of you who have read the first one, please tell me what you think of the improved version, and for those of you who are new to Misunderstandings.. welcome ^^ I hope you enjoy my fanfiction. You must be waarned though, this story is going through an editing process, and I will be updating the current chapters with their respective edited counterparts. Thank you for taking your time to read this and please leave a review, I appreciate them very much, they are what makes me become a better writer =)

Now onto Misunderstandings...

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**Prologue: Living in a raging inferno**

The doors to the waiting room in Bevelle's biggest hospital burst open as two nurses ran in, wheeling a stretcher hastily through the double doors leading to the emergency room. A figure sitting in a shadowy corner of the waiting room watched the flurry of activity with narrowed eyes. Her shoulders slumped a little as she leaned forward, resting her chin in her cupped hand as she rubbed her crimson eyes tiredly with the other. She lowered her head to stare at the floor, a few strands of silver hair falling into her face. She brushed the bangs out of her eyes with an irritated gesture and leant back in the chair, sighing silently.

She surveyed the people scattered around the room with a wary look in her ruby coloured orbs. She knew that to most people present she came across as a cold woman at a first glance. Even those few who recognised her as one of Spira's saviours cast reserved glances at her stony expression.

The silver haired warrior furrowed her brow and continued to stare at the ground. She was so oblivious to the world around her, so concentrated on thinking about what had happened over and over again that she didn't notice the approaching foootsteps until a soft hand covered her gloved one in a gesture of comfort. Her head snapped up and her blood red gaze met with a bi-colour one.

"Paine, everything is going to be alright." Paine nodded curtly and resumed staring a hole in the floor. When a second hand came down to rest obn her shoulder she glanced up again, this time meeting a bright emerald gaze.

"Yunie's right Paine, everything is gonna be ok, you know he's strong."

Paine sighed and closed her eyes, unfamiliar with the burning feeling behind her eyelids and the lump forming in her throat. Another pair of footsteps approached, coming to rest behind the chair Paine was sitting in.

"Yeah Dr.P, you'll see, soon this nightmare will be over…" the crimson eyed warrior just nodded again, not needing to open her eyes to recognise the Machine Faction's leader's voice.

_A nightmare…_ her thoughts wandered, thinking about when and how this nightmare would end. _But… it isn't a nightmare, it's much much worse… You can wake up from bad dreams, but real life… is something you have to deal with…_ Paine opened her eyes slowly and gazed at the three people standing in front of her.

Yuna, who still had her hand placed on Paine's, was watching her friend with a concerned look in her bi-coloured eyes. Rikku, who had removed her hand from her friends shoulder, was now cuddling up to Gippal, looking for some sort of comfort of her own as she tried to remain strong for her fellow Gullwing. Gippal was simply gazing into his ex-Crimson Squad comrade's ruby eyes, letting her know that he was also there for her as he squeezed Rikku's shoulder reassuringly.

Paine shifted her gaze back to the floor and sighed shakily as she began recalling yet again how her life had turned into a raging inferno in just a few weeks...

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Any comments or thoughts on the new prologue from the older readers? And newcomers to this story please, I'd love to hear your opinions too ^^


	2. It's for the best

Disclaimer: I do not own FFX-2 or any of the characters in this fanfiction, except my OC ^^

Hello everyone ^^ I'm sorry the editing is taking so long, but i'm about to finish my school year, and theeeen ..SUMMER HOLIDAYS!! a.k.a. fanfic writing time =D Right, anywho Chapter 1, edited version is right here for everybody to enjoy. Feedback is appreciated ^^ Comments, opinions anything, tell me whether its good or bad, better than the original Chap.1? BUT, please use only constructive criticism, flames will be deleted.

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Chapter 1: It's for the best

_**It all started that day**__**… I made a decision that would change my life forever, although I was ignorant of the consequences until several days later…however that is coming now. Let me continue with my story, a story not of pink princesses and prince charmings, but of the suffering one must sometimes go through to make a loved one happy, even though that loved one is not happy despite my attempts to make him so. One of the consequences I was completely oblivious to when I stepped out of the Praetor's office for what I thought would be the last time. Even now… I ask myself what in Yevon's name drove me to take such course of action…**_

The sound of high heeled boots echoed through the hallways in the temple of Bevelle, heading towards the Praetor's office. They gradually slowed and came to a halt in front of a door, a shiny copper-coloured plaque with the word 'Praetor' engraved on it with elegant handwriting, indicating the office of the leader of New Yevon, co-leader of Spira.

A quiet sigh escaped the lips of the crimson eyed warrior now standing in front of the door, silently glaring at the door handle, debating whether or not to enter. A leather gloved hand gripped the handle as the other rose, ready to knock on the polished wood. A moment of hesitation made her hand falter though, lowering slightly as the warrior closed her eyes, allowing the memories of the past few weeks to flood her mind… _The snowy haired Praetor pacing up and down behind his desk… an order for a dozen red roses hidden in the paperwork…the little square velvet box she had found in the drawer of his desk instead of the stapler… the nervous glances he gave her during their now awkward conversations… the way he avoided her in the hallways… and the voice… the woman's voice she had heard laughing merrily while walking past his office one day… a deep chuckle soon following the tinkling laugh._

Ruby red orbs snapped open and narrowed as the leather gloved hand gripped the door handle with a new determination. Knuckles rapped on the door and she heard a rapid shuffling of papers and the sound of a drawer being shut hastily as a muffled voice called "Enter". A flash of pain burned in the back of her deep red eyes, but it was gone as soon as she opened the door, the hurt covered up by an ice cold wall.

The door swung open to reveal a man with snow white hair, sitting behind his desk, his chocolate brown eyes watching the leather clad swordswoman walking up to him ,with a certain nervousness, which increased with every metallic 'click' he sword made against her belt buckles as she walked slowly towards the desk. The Praetor opened his mouth to speak,

"Pai-.."

"We need to talk," Paine cut him off brusquely, crossing her arms over her chest. "Now Baralai," she added when she saw the Praetor make yet another attempt to avoid a conversation with her. Baralai blinked in surprise and nodded slowly, motioning to Paine to sit down in the chair opposite him. The silver haired woman shook her head and let her arms drop to her sides.

"I'm leaving." Her simple monotone statement echoed loudly in Baralai's ears. He paled slightly.

"Oh? Where are you going? I could take a couple of days off and accompany you if you want?" Paine's eyes narrowed as she lowered her head a little, crossing her arms over her chest again.

"What part of 'I'm leaving' didn't you understand? I'm leaving 'Lai, on my own. And I don't know where…" Paine snapped he head up and gazed into those big brown eyes she had fallen in love with, those big brown eyes that had lost their twinkle as soon as her last words escaped her lips. "But it's somewhere far away from here." _And far away from you, _she added to herself. _So I'll be out of the way, and out of your life so you can be happy._

Baralai's eyes widened in shock, his tanned face losing all it's colour as the blood drained from it. His lips parted and closed as he tried to find the words to say. He faltered a few moments before whispering,

"You're leaving me…"

The Praetor winced as it came out more as a statement than the question it had been intended to be. He trembled involuntarily at the fact that he already knew the answer, he just didn't want to accept it. Paine nodded curtly, both answering his question and reaffirming his statement. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from taking everything back there and then. _No, _she reprimanded herself, _remember it's so he can lead a happier life, this is for him, not for yourself. _She watched impassive as Baralai tried to assimilate the information. It was killing her on the inside to see the man she loved like this, but she stood firm, she had to carry out her actions so he could be happy, it was for his own good… Baralai managed to lift his head and stutter one word wracked with pain.

"Why…?"

Paine lowered her head and turned to leave. She knew he was bound to ask that question, but she just couldn't bear to look at him when she answered. Her gloved hand was on the door handle when she turned her head to the side slightly, staring at the corner of the desk, clenching her jaw. She blinked twice and murmured just loud enough for Baralai to hear

"I don't love you."

And with that she opened the door and walked out without a second glance, the door closing softly behind her.

The sound of high heeled boots echoed through the hallways in the temple of Bevelle, heading towards the main entrance. Paine stopped at the beginning of the Highbridge, with her back to the temple doors. An unfamiliar burning behind her eyelids made the warrior pause. A single tear escaped from the corner of her eye and landed on the leather glove that was holding the hilt of her sword. She stared at it for a few seconds before closing her eyes tightly. _Why did lying have to be so painful? _Slowly she opened her eyes again and took a deep breath. She held her head high as she started walking down the Highbridge, leaving Bevelle, and the man with the key to her heart, behind.


	3. What did I do?

Disclaimer: Don't own FFX-2, Squareenix does...

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**What did I do?**

_That day…it was supposed to be the happiest of my life…It turned out to be quite the contrary._

_The idea had come to me a few weeks ago, when I walked past a jewellery shop in Luca, the rings were shining and glittering, trying to tell me something. I love my ruby-eyed warrior; it would be the perfect present for our anniversary in a couple of weeks right? She loves me too, so I didn't see a problem, not then anyway._

_After a few days I became more and more nervous, I found myself stuttering in her presence, I avoided her quite a bit, I spent more time pacing up and down behind my desk dreaming about the day, our day, our anniversary. I'm good at keeping secrets but she always knew when I was hiding something._

_That fateful day came, but little did I know that it wouldn't be as happy as I thought it would be…_

I was pacing up and down behind my desk yet again, when a part of my brain registered the sound of some high heeled boots clicking down the hallway. The noise did not fully register; I was, as usual, in my own world, oblivious to the real world surrounding me.

A few seconds later I heard a small cough and I turned around so fast I thought I was going to fly off the floor. There in front of my desk was Paine, my crimson eyed warrior, my silver haired angel clad in black leather…She looked more like an angry angel now, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes lit with a hidden determination.

"H-hi, um… I didn't hear you knock" I said to her apologetically

"So I guessed." she replied in a neutral voice. "Are you busy? I need to talk to you."

I winced, although I think I hid it well, I was used to her bluntness but she wasn't normally this blunt.

"No, I'm not busy. Please take a seat and make yourself comfortable" I replied as I sat down in my chair.

"Thank you, but I would rather stand "

"Oh, in that case…" I stood up again. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I'm leaving"

"…" _What did she just say? _I was rather taken aback for a moment. "Oh, okay. Where are you going? I can take some time off and come with you if you like."

"I said I'M leaving, meaning me, by myself" Paine answered in a cold voice. _Okay, now I know something's not right here._

A flash of hurt showed in my eyes. "Right then, where are you heading?" I asked.

"That is none of your concern" the leather clad warrior replied coolly.

My face must surely have been showing the hurt I felt. _I have no idea what I've done for her to be like this with me … _

"Paine…?" I asked cautiously. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No."

"The why are you …"

"I said I'm leaving for Yevon's sake!" her voice was like ice now, and just a little desperate.

_It can't be… can it? No… I must ask, even though I fear the answer _

I whispered the one question I shouldn't have asked.

"Wait…are you leaving…me?"

"Took you long enough." _No…no…_

"…"

I had no idea what to say, I knew I had to say something, anything, my brain just wasn't processing the information, it wasn't accepting the words that my ears had just heard. I managed to pull myself together enough to say one word:

"Why…?"

By the look on her face, Paine seemed prepared for the question, her features were harder than marble, her eyes guarded, her expression indifferent. Something made her wall crumble, and for a few seconds, I saw a trace of pain and hurt in her ruby eyes, it came and went so quickly I thought, maybe I had imagined it.

Her lips parted to say four the words that would destroy my world forever…

"I don't love you"

I couldn't see myself, although I'm pretty sure that the blood drained from my face and my vision was blurry. I could only just make out Paine's back heading towards the door. My mind was screaming _Come back Paine!! Wait… What the hell are you doing? Go after her you idiot!_ I didn't do anything, I couldn't, my knees started shaking and just gave way, collapsing into my chair. I leant forward to rest my forehead on the desk _Why didn't I do anything? I just let my whole life walk out that door! Baralai, you are officially the most stupid, idiotic fool in Spira!_

I think I was going into shock, because a few minutes later everything went black.

When I awoke it took me a few moments to remember what had happened. Then it all came rushing back. I opened my eyes so wide I thought they were going to jump out of their sockets. When the realization of what happened hit me with full force, I thumped my head against the desk yelling "Dammit!" in a very un-Praetor-like way. Of course that left me with a dizzy spell. As if I wasn't stupid enough I jumped up quickly, thinking_ I have to go and get her back_ making my dizziness worse.

It was then that I noticed that one of the drawers in the desk was slightly ajar. I bent down and took out a little box covered in black velvet. I flicked it open and stared at the ring sitting inside.

It was silver with rubies and onyx set all around it. Red and black. Crimson eyes and black leather. That night I was going to propose to the only woman I had ever loved, oh what the hell, still love, but in a matter of minutes my whole life had shattered.

_What's the point in moving on if I'm not going to be happy with any other woman? She is unique; no one could ever take her place in my life. My life… ha! My life isn't worth living if she is not here to complete my heart, no one can live with a heart that isn't complete. _

These were the thoughts running through my head as I left my office, walking out of Bevelle with no intention to return.

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	4. The start of a journey and a promise

Disclaimer: No I don't own FFX-2, I just own a copy of the game

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**The start of a journey and a promise**

_And so my nightmare continues. Many of you wouldn't understand my actions, why I pushed the love of my life out of my life. Let me give you a little clue, if he is happier with the girl he daydreams about than with me, I will move out of the way. It hurts me to do so, but I would do anything to make him happy. I had no idea I was doing the total opposite…_

To get out of Bevelle quickly I got on one of the gondolas from the Highbridge canals. The old man piloting the little boat was sloshing water everywhere. _Baralai was right; these things really do need an upgrade. Stop thinking about him!_

I sighed quietly so that the pilot wouldn't hear me. _Blocking him out of my life is going to be a little more difficult than I thought. I like a challenge though. _I tried smiling at my idiocy, but it only turned into a grimace. I quickly returned my face to a mask of no emotion before the pilot turned around and saw me and went crazy.

I stopped at the entrance of Bevelle, but I didn't look back. I looked instead at the fading beauty of the Macalania woods in front of me.

Even if it wasn't up to its former beauty, the mystical trees could still take ones breath away.

I sighed and started walking. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately, I should stop sighing so much, it's too depressing… Well, I have the right to sigh a little.

I looked up at the sky, the sun was still rising. It was still early in the morning, but the light was shining through the branches overhead, turning the surroundings into glittering, crystal-like vegetation.

"Wow" I breathed. It was such a shame that the forest was fading, even though it was giving everything it could to reverse its fate.

I picked up the pace and crossed the woods, in a few hours I was nearing the Thunder Plains. The sun was nearing its summit, it was nearly noon. I checked because once I entered the Thunder Plains I would lose sight of the sun due to the permanent storm clouds that covered the stretch of land.

I continued my journey until I reached Rin's Travel Agency and stocked up on provisions. The sky above me was looking blacker than usual so I guessed it was late afternoon. It would still take me a few more hours to reach Guadosalam but I didn't bother stopping to make camp. I was already wet, so a bit more water wasn't going to hurt that much.

As I walked towards the entrance of the tunnel that would lead me to Guadosalam, I spotted a huge gaping hole to my left.

I paused and looked at it, remembering the day that we had had to save the people that had come to watch Yuna's concert from the fire breathing fiend hidden deep in that cave. My life was so different then, I travelled throughout Spira with my newly found friends, going on adventures, saving Spira, yeah, that bit was fun… But now, everybody was settling down, Yuna had found what she had been looking for these past two years, Rikku was working with Gippal and the Machine Faction and me… well, until this morning, I had been living with him, helping with office work and occasionally training the warrior monks. But now... I didn't have a purpose anymore, what was I going to do? Walk around Spira for the rest of my life? I could do that, but it wasn't much fun going solo and I'm a pretty solitary person. I guess nobody would want to spend their whole life alone.

I turned away from the cave and continued my path across the gloomy plains till I reached the emerald green walls of Guadosalam. It was definitely night now. I needed somewhere to stay, at least a few hours. I stopped in front of Leblanc's Syndicate HQ. Even though she had um... helped... with the destruction of Vegnagun, there wasn't much friendliness between us. Just then another idea came to me. I walked up the slope that lay to the right of the huge mansion and knocked on the door of the house sitting snugly on the path.

_I hope he lets me stay the night; after all the Gullwings did help him out..._ I thought to myself as I waited for someone to come to the door.

Slowly the colourful door swang open to reveal a green haired guado, dressed in dark green trousers and a lighter green coat with red sleeves.

"Why Lady Paine, what an honour it is to find you on my doorstep!"

"Uh... Thanks I guess. Listen could you do me a favour?" _I'm still not used to this saviour of Spira respect stuff, it kinda gets on my nerves a little._

"Why anything for one of the Gullwings!" _Ok, seriously cut it out..._

"Could you give me somwhere to sleep for the night? I promise, you won't even notice I'm here"

"Of course my Lady, but I'm afraid I've only got the couch to spare... I'm not used to having guests you see..."

"That's fine, thank you Tromell"

"Not at all my Lady, not at all" the guado by the name of Tromell stepped aside and let me into his home.

"Could I get you anything Lady Paine?" _Damn, when is he going to cut that stuff out!? I'm not used to this stuff, not like Yuna_ I kept thinking to myself.

"No thanks, I just need a couple of hours sleep and I'll be off before dawn."

"Very well, make yourself comfortable" he replied as he shuffled towards the door at the back of the room.

After a couple of hours of tossing and turning on the sofa, I sat up and stared at the ceiling, a war raging inside my head, logic against feelings.

_I miss him so much..._

_**But you did it for his own good!**_

_Yeah, but I still miss him._

_**He'll be happy now; he'll go find that girl he daydreams about and forget about me, that is what I want.**_

_But I don't want him to forget..._

_**It's for his own good!!**_

_Okay then, I'll remember for both of us and one thing I'll never forget is that he is the only man I've ever loved._

_**Fine, your fluffy side really shows when you are in love huh?**__** You need to go and find Yuna; she'll know what to do to calm you down.**_

_Very well..._

I sighed as I stood up and headed towards the entrance, but I retraced my steps, scribbled a thank you note to Tromell on a piece of paper lying on the table next to the couch, and left the kind guado's home. Hey, I can hide my feelings but I know when to show gratitude.

I headed towards the entrance of Guasdosalam at a quick walk, the path to Moonflow in sight. With a bit of luck I could catch the first shoopuf of the morning. As I neared the bank a friendly Hyphello stepped out towards me.

"Eexcushe me Mshh, are you waiting to ride thee shoopuf?"

"Yeah, am I too late for the first ride?"

"Noo mshh, you is too early!

"Oh, how long for the ride then?"

"A couple of hourshh"

_Great now what am I going to do for a couple of hours?_ "Kay, thanks"

"No problem mshh."

_Oh well, I guess it's hurt time for the local fiends then_ I said to myself as I walked back up the path and entered the forest.

I continued walking around until I came upon a couple of flans and an Agama, a pesky lizard like fiend.

"Here comes the hurt" I muttered and took down the Agama in one go. I turned to the flans and changed into my black mage dressphere.

"Burn!" I shouted as I unleased a Firaga on one of the flans. Okay so it was a little over the top, a simple Fire would've done the job but I wanted to let some of my frustration out.

Then the remaining flan attacked me from behind, making me stumble a little.

"Why you little...!" I turned around and melted it with the most simple spell in my book. _Don't need to waste all my magic on little blobs of goo like you_ I thought to myself, still angry at the flan that had attacked me while my back was turned.

I flipped my staff and whispered:

"Too easy" _If only life was as easy as taking out these fiends _As usual, thinking to myself as I watched the pyreflies disperse.

I went back to the lauching bay on the bank to get on the first ride of the day. I had hardly realized it was so early.

As I sat on the shoopuf I went over my plan for the next couple of days.

_Right, first get to Djose, ask Rikku if I can use the commsphere,call Yuna to ask if I can stay a couple of days, try not to take respect points away from Rikku in the process, leave Djose and get to Luca. Next day catch the S.S.Winno to Kilika and from there catch S.S.Likki to Besaid._

Before I knew it we were on the other side of the beautiful river and mooring on the other bank. I got out of the passenger lift and started walking swiftly down the road till I reached the Djose cross roads. I turned left towards the road that led to the Djose temple, once home to Ixion, the lightning unicorn, now home to one of my best friends and one of my annoying ex-comrades from the Crimson Squad.

My lips turned up in a small smile, I wasn't alone, my friends meant everything to me, even if they were hyper-active, annoying, prying and cocky, arrogant, with an ego the size of a hover fan.

I would protect them from any harm, making sure they were happy.

_I made that promise to myself, I__ promised that I wouldn't let them be harmed, I promised I would protect them. Soon that promise would come into being, soon I would have to protect one of my friends and I would do so even if my life must be put before theirs_.

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	5. If there's no hope left, why fight?

Hi everyone! Sorry bout the update, it took me a while to finish. I've been kinda stressed with projects and school and all th rest of the lnyb so forgive meeeee

Disclaimer: yep I think everyone knows I don't own FFX-2

Hope you enjoy, tell me what you think )

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**If there's no hope left, why fight?**

_I was, as you could say, an empty shell, a walking nothing. I felt as though my heart had literally been torn out of my chest. I just couldn't figure out why things were as they were, how destiny could change one's fate in a matter of minutes, but more importantly what had driven Paine to take this course of action. I didn't understand anything, what had I done for her to leave me like that? I thought she was happy by my side……obviously not. I hoped it was just some big misunderstanding, although… it felt too painful to be just a misunderstanding._

I stood at the end of the Highbridge contemplating the beautiful city that I had grown up in, the colourful floors carpeting every street, the majestic buildings towering up above me, the mysterious temple where so many secrets had been kept. Almost every corner of Bevelle held memories of mine, some good, some bad. I gazed over the city again for the last time and turned my back to it, heading for the first glittering trees of Macalania woods. I hadn't packed anything; I carried only what I had on me at the time of… the talk… so basically what I was wearing. The only other thing I held was my dual edged staff, my faithful weapon that had helped me fight several battles.

I looked back towards Bevelle, but stopped in mid movement, staring instead at the small bush next to the road. _No Baralai, forget it, forget Bevelle, forget all of your memories, and forget all of your life because your life walked out of your office a few hours earlier._ _So what does one do when they forget their life? Well that's up to you…_

A sinister grin spread over my face as I started marching slowly towards the Calm Lands, walking like a machina, machina very much like the ones that Gippal and Rikku produce in Djose temple. A pang of sadness and guilt racked through me as I thought of my friends, sadness because I would not see them again, guilt because I haven't told them of my plan. However I very much doubted that they would want a shell in the place of their friend, so maybe it was for the best. Gippal, Rikku, Yuna, that young man Tidus, Nooj, Leblanc… They were the people that have always helped me through thick and thin, no matter the consequences, people I know I can depend on for anything. I sighed, knowing that no one would ever be able to help me through this; it is a battle that is already lost. As lost as a certain ruby eyed warrior.

I shook my head to try and get rid of my thoughts, especially the ones about… her. _Just concentrate on your plan _I stopped suddenly. _Wait, I don't even have a plan. Why do I keep on talking about a plan when I don't even have one? I want to forget my life but I don't know how to, maybe I'll go to see Clasko, cause a Chocobo stampede and get in the way. Not very dignified but at least I have a plan now… Great I'm talking with myself, planning the end of my life. What could be better than this? Damn! I'm doing it again! Shut up! …_

I sighed as I continued staring at the bush on the side of the road. I snapped out of my reverie and started towards the Calm Lands_. Who knows? Maybe I'll get inspiration and make up a better plan… oh cred, here I go again. Ok focus, clear your mind… Since when do I do yoga? Alright, that's it, I'm definitely going crazy._

My interior monologue continued all through my journey to the Calm Lands. It only took a few minutes to reach the grassy ledge that indicated the beginning of the huge plain, but to me it seemed like hours.

I continued my trek towards the hover that belonged to the new business company by the name of Argent.

"Good afternoon Sir. Could I help with anything? A few tickets for the Lupine Dash? Or perhaps a ride to Mt. Gagazet?" A chubby man dressed in a formal looking suit stepped out from in front of the hover.

"No thank you, I will walk, I'm meeting up with someone" I answered politely.

The chubby man was about to answer when he noticed who he was talking to.

"P-Praetor Baralai! What an honour it is, yes Sir! I definitely didn't expect someone such as yourself to be down in the Calm Lands. May I be curious and ask what your business is on this sunny afternoon?"

"You may, but I wouldn't be so sure of recieving an answer. As I said before I am meeting up with someone. That is enough for you to know if your curiosity reaches such a high point." I replied calmly. I learned from the first of my days as Praetor to never reveal much information to strangers, however I had a feeling that if I didn't say something to this man he would not stop pestering me.

"O-oh, my apologies, Sir. I did not mean to be nosy"

_Riiiight._ I tried so very hard not to roll my eyes at the man's clearer than crystal, shameless lie.

"I must continue, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon Sir, if you need anything, Sir, Mr. Tispu is here at your service."

I nodded at the man and turned my back to him, ready to continue my journey to Clasko's… Chocobo Farm, trying not to laugh at the man's name. Mr. Tispu… Translated into Spiran it meant Mr. Dumbo. I smirked at the man's misfortune. _What kind of parent would have named their child Dumbo? _I wondered to myself.

I continued chuckling to myself while I made my way towards the other side of the great plain streched out before me.

My journey was, all in all, boring. Lonely, calm, silent... pretty much like me, at this moment that is. Other than an occasional battle with random fiends, which I fended off with my staff, there was nothing much to point out.

That is until I met an unusually strong fiend for its kind.

A black chimera approached me cautiously at first but slowly it started to gain more and more speed till it was charging directly at me.  
Due to the fiend's inability to change direction I avoided its tackle swiftly and turned to face it. The creature had stopped and was also turning to face its prey. I stood my ground, my staff held in front of me, waiting for the chimera to attack me first. Suddenly it leaned forward, its serpent tail about to strike me with a magic spell but it halted.  
Two machina stepped out from behind the huge fiend and positioned themselves on either side of the rearing monster. What surprised me the most was that they were on fire, burning like the heart of a bomb. I remembered my training from the Crimson Squad and started powering up a lightning spell directed at both machina.  
As I was charging my magic, the chimera took advantage of my distraction and charged at me again. I noticed the fiend's intentions but I couldn't move without breaking my concentration on the spell. It was coming closer and closer. When it was only a few yards away I finished my spell and shouted "Thundaga" at the burning machina and rolled out of the chimera's path to avoid injury. I didn't move fast enough, the fiend caught my side with its horns and sent me flying several feet away.  
I landed on my back with a huge thud, managing to leave my arm underneath as I fell, twisting my wrist in the process. I ignored the pain shooting through my wrist and looked at the machina to see if I had eliminated them. To my dispair they hadn't and were charging at me, metal arms tipped with dangerous looking spikes aimed straight at me. I stood up with difficulty and muttered a few words under my breath, my rod pointing towards the chimera. I smirked as I saw that my spell had worked; the chimera was paralysed, it couldn't move.  
I focused my attention on the machina. I held my staff in the middle, sank down onto one knee and waited for my burning enemies to reach me. Their arms caught each side of the staf and when the moment was right I stood up and turned around sharply, sending the machina flying, just as I had moments before. As they stood in a messy heap of scrap metal, oil and flames, I started muttering a complex formula to a combined spell, one I hoped would get rid of these extremely strong fiends once and for all.

I hit them with a mixed lightning and ice spell, hoping the combination would leave them shocked to the core and frozen like statues.

Their metal bodies screeched and clanked as they tried to throw off my magic spell, but they were unsuccessful, they fell apart piece by piece.

I leaned on my rod for support, my back felt as though it had a thousand needles coursing through it and my wrist was aching painfully. "I'm not so sure I just twisted it" I muttered to no one in particular.

I had completely forgotten about the chimera that I had petrified earlier. A big mistake. My spell had worn off and the furious beast was preparing a huge meteor in one of its massive paws. I felt the heat behind me and turned my head a little. Too late... The ball of flame impacted on my already crushed back and threw me forwards onto the grass. My vision blurred and I could only just make out the silhouette of the angry fiend walking towards me. Suddenly it stopped in its tracks, looked up at something I couldn't see and ran off.  
Something told me I was in deep trouble, even deeper than being crushed by a chimera. A shiver went down my spine as I tried to stay conscious. From far off I could hear somebody shouting, something like "look out!" before finally falling unconscious.

I woke up somwhere dark, damp and awfully smelly; I opened my eyes to find a big yellow face, two centimetres away from mine, covered in feathers. _A chocobo?_ I blinked slowly so as not to startle the big bird and groped around on the wall behind me to pull myself up.

Wait a moment... wall? I was in the middle of the Calm Lands, there are no walls in the middle of the plain. I tried sitting up but a wave of pain surged through my spine. I held in a string of words that shoudn't be heard by innocent ears and leaned back on the wall. The chocobo was still looking at me but it had sat down beside me, something I was grateful for actually. It's not very pleasant to have a huge beak in your face. I turned to look back and the bird let out a little contented chirp and ruffled its crest. I remember someone telling me that these intelligent birds could do small errands if asked nicely. _I guess I could give it a shot_

"Um... Hello there" I greeted the animal; I must admit I felt rather stupid talking to a bird... "Do you think you could do me a favour?"

The yellow fowl tilted its head. I took that as a yes. "Could you find me a potion or a remedy please?"

Its big chocolate eyes shined and in one swift movement it stood up and trotted off. I watched it until it was out of sight, then turned to gaze at my surroundings. There wasn't much, there was a great cliff behind and in front of me, a thin path leading off to my left and to my right... were the Calm Lands! My mind jumped into gear, I was somewhere near the entrance to the hidden temple, the Remiem Temple.

Just then the chocobo came trotting back, a bottle hanging from its beak. I smiled gratefully at the bird and drank the remedy down in one gulp. It sat back down next to me and I patted its neck.

"You know, you saved me...I am truly grateful. You're the one that brought me here didn't you?" The bird nodded._ So they really do understand us._ "I think I'm going to give you a name...How about Cyjeuin? It means saviour in albhed." The bird cooed a little and closed its eyes in happiness. "I'm glad you like it."  
I sat there a while pondering my actions. _I could've let myself be killed by the fiends, yet I fought them off. Those crazy machina could've taken me down if I hadn't defended myself, as could the chimera... but I still fought. Why? I think I know why... Somwhere deep deep down in my heart, there's a shimmer of hope still burning, still keeping me going... Maybe I can get through this... I still have Gippal and Nooj, our friendship bonds could never be broken. Maybe, just maybe I can get though this... but I'll need time... a lot of time... _

A sudden wave of tiredness came over me. My back was cured, as was my wrist, so I settled down to sleep. My newest friend, Cyjeuin, shifted a little and cuddled up to me. I smiled and lay down on his soft feathers. Cyjeuin cooed and covered me up with his wing. I fell asleep almost immediately, probably thanks to the wonderful pillow I had.

_That day I almost died. The strange thing is that I had wanted to die, but somewhere in my heart, a flicker of hope told me to keep holding on. _

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	6. Change of plans and mad Rikku Behemoths

Disclaimer: uh... yeah... does it look like I own FF?

sorry bout the late update guys, I've been really stressed out lately and I haven't had any time...

Enjoy

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**Change of plans and mad Rikku Behemoths**

_The next chapter of my life begins with me standing at the Djose crossroads, on my way to visit two of my friends. Friends… Not everybody knows what friendship is, that or they do not understand the true meaning of friendship. Back then I made a promise to myself, and I intend to keep that promise, no matter the consequences. Enough of that for now, please continue…_

I stood at the Djose crossroads, looking up the path that I had just walked through, the path that leads to the Moonflow. I shook my head and turned towards the road that led to the Djose temple. My feet began walking of their own accord until they reached the entrance of the huge building. I rapped my knuckles swiftly on the door and waited for somebody to open up. After standing outside for a good ten minutes, I knocked again several times, crossed my arms across my chest and started tapping my foot impatiently as I waited for someone to let me in. Ten more minutes passed before a scraggly looking al'bhed opened the door.

"Oac?"

"It's about time somebody opened the door, I've been waiting for almost twenty minutes now!" I snapped at the worker.

"Sorry but not everyone is an early riser such as yourself" the worker said, turning around to go back inside as he muttered "Baubma cruimt hud pa pynkehk ehdu dra Sylreha Vyldeuh yd rymv veja eh dra sunhehk"

"Famm ed'c hud ajanotyo oui lusa du jeced y vneaht yht kad famlusat po cusa nita dra fungan dryd upjeuicmo haatc y mufan byo lralg" I shot back in al'bhed.

The person in front of me turned around again looking startled and embarrassed.

"Uh…cunno… I didn't know you spoke al'bhed"

"Whatever, now tell me, are either Gippal or Rikku awake?"

"Mr. Gippal is away on important business and Miss Rikku will be down in a minute, please come in" the worker had noticed my sword and I think he had decided not to get me angry. Good decision in my opinion.

I walked past the still startled and slightly scared Al'bhed and stood in the centre of the room as I waited for Rikku to appear. The worker shuffled off and left me alone in the big room with only my thoughts for company.

_I think I'll tell Rikku to work on the education of the __employees or maybe just that one._

I gazed at the high ceiling of the room, marvelling at the intricate carvings and delicate drawings that covered it. My mind was starting to wonder how on Spira they managed to get up there to decorate said ceiling when I heard a very high pitched squeal.

"Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaine!!" I turned around and saw a hyper-active al'bhed girl sprinting towards me, her hair flying, making it even messier than it already was from just getting out of bed.

"Hey Rikku" my lips twitched up into a small smile.

"OhmyYevon!WhatareyoudoinghereImissedyousomuch!" Rikku let out in one breath as she pulled me into a bear hug that nearly cracked my ribs. I don't know where she gets all that strength form, considering her petite form.

"Geeze, breathe okay? And could you please stop bruising my ribcage?"

Rikku let me go suddenly and I nearly toppled over. Luckily I maintained my balance and straightened out my top before turning to Rikku.

"Sorry…" Rikku grinned sheepishly as she scratched the back of her neck. My memories jolted at that gesture, where had I seen it before? Oh yeah… something Gippal picked up from him when we were in the Crimson Squad. "So…what brings you here to visit my excellent persona?"

I rolled my eyes, hooray for modesty…

"Gippal's bad influence is rubbing off on you."

"Uh-huh, whatever, don't change the subject" she replied, just a tad touchy.

"Just pointing it out, anyway can I use your commsphere?"

"Uh… sure…" Rikku looked a little unnerved. "But haven't you like, got loads in Bevelle?"

"Yeah, but I was on my way to Luca and I thought I'd drop by."

"Awww, you actually came to visit me!" Rikku squealed again.

"Whatever" I replied, rolling my eyes at the young girl's enthusiasm but inside I was smiling. Even though it didn't look like it, I really had missed Rikku… more than I would ever admit. I watched as she did a little dance out of happiness, chuckling lightly at the sight before me.

"Rikku…" Rikku stopped in the middle of a twirl on one foot and was left in a very awkward position. The leg she was standing on trembled and she fell on the floor with an undignified squeak. She stood up huffily and glared at the curious workers that had gathered round the room while she was dancing. They looked away quickly and scurried off to find bits of machina to tinker with. When they had all disappeared Rikku turned around to smile brightly at me.

"C'mon, the commsphere's over here" she said as she started walking towards one of the antechambers. I followed her and when I passed through the door I saw a plaque that said 'Gippal's office' hanging on the front. Then I remembered.

"Hey Rikku, the worker that opened the door told me that Gippal's away on urgent business."

"Uh-huh" Rikku nodded energetically. "He got a call from Clasko saying that there's some kind of crazy machina on rampage. Gippal has gone to check it out. Kimarhi has been warned just in case the machina decides to go hiking" she sighed and added "I'm a little worried ya know? Clasko described it as humongous and it was on the other side of the plain. I know Gippal's a big boy and he can take care of machina… but it's not everyday that somebody sees some kind of huge, out of control thing on rampage…"

I put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"Don't worry 'kay? Gippal survived the Crimson Squad, he'll be alright."

"Yeah, I know…" Rikku sighed and switched back to hyper-active mode. "Anyways, the commsphere is over there."

I looked towards the place where Rikku was pointing and effectively on the desk sat the blue commsphere. I walked over to it and pressed the option that said Besaid. If I remembered correctly the commsphere in Besaid was in the village right outside Wakka and Lulu's hut. As I waited for the connection to complete itself I thought about what I was going to say to Yuna.

"_**Hey Yuna, long time no see! Can I stay at your place a few days?" **__Nah…too pushy and direct._

"_**Hi Yuna, listen I was thinking of dropping by and I was wondering if you could lend me a place to sleep?"**__ Erm…not my style…_

"_**Oh my gawd Yuna!! I've missed you so much! **__**Hey I'm gonna come over okay?"**__ Uh…_

"_**Good morning Lady Yuna, I am seeking comfort for my broken heart which I have left in Bevelle with the Praetor."**__ Oh come on…_

I laughed at myself in my head. Any of those requests would seriously worry Yuna. _Just be yourself_.

Finally the connection was completed and the peaceful village of Besaid came into view.

In the distance a man wearing the Besaid Aurochs uniform was bouncing a blitzball on his head near the temple. Slowly he walked towards the exit of the village, concentrating so that the blitzball kept bouncing on his head. As he passed the commsphere he turned and saw a pair of crimson eyes watching him with a slightly amused expression in them. The poor blitzer jumped with fright and sent the blitzball flying into the undergrowth surrounding the huts.

"Oh man…Captain Tidus and coach Wakka are gonna have my head for that…" he muttered to himself, gazing into the bushes in the futile search of the blue and white ball.

"Excuse me" I interrumpted the man's monologue. He jumped again and turned towards the commsphere. "Do you know where Yuna is?"

"Lady Yuna I believe is in the temple teaching white magic" answered the blitzer.

"Could you fetch her please?"

"Sorry ma'am but I'm already late for practice and Cap'n Tidus is gonna kill me, not to mention that Wakka is gonna want a new blitzball."

"Very well, then can you deliver a message to Wakka or Tidus?"

"Sure…"

"Tell them that Paine is calling and wants to talk with Yuna."

"Okay."

I watched the young man as he trotted off towards the beach. I waited for about fifteen minutes until she heard footsteps. I turned the angle of the commsphere but I couldn't see anything. The thumping footsteps came closer and I realized that somebody was jumping down the hill. Suddenly a pair of black and yellow boots stomped down in front of the commsphere's vision. I recognized the boots immediately.

"Tidus!" I exclaimed. "Do you really have to be so loud?"

"Nah, I just came jumping down the slope and simply my final jump was in front of you!" He said as he plopped down in front of me. I rolled my eyes at him and wondered where he got all his energy from.

"So…Keepa told me that you wanted to talk to Yuna."

"Yeah…"

"Okay, I'll go fetch her" he got up swiftly. "I'm doing it just for you, I even left the team to train with Wakka" he grinned at me. I looked closely and indeed his mop of blonde hair was dripping slightly.

"Thanks but flattery won't get you anywhere" I replied

"Oh well, it was worth a shot"

Tidus winked, got up and ran off towards the temple. A few minutes later he came running out again. Well, not really running, more a kind of combined skip and jump and he was swerving off to one side, mostly because he had Yuna over his shoulder. When he reached the commsphere he gave a little jump and put a very red faced Yuna down.

"What's the meaning of this Tidus?! You can't just interrupt my class shouting 'emergency'!" Yuna yelled. Tidus just grinned sheepishly. I raised an eyebrow at the couple with a smirk tugging the edges of my mouth while Tidus just shrugged his shoulders at me.

"Well? Where's the emergency huh?" Yuna asked, hands on hips, still looking angry. Tidus nodded towards the commsphere and Yuna turned around slowly to where my face was displayed in the blue screen. Yuna's mouth formed a small 'o' in surprise.

"Paine?" she exclaimed.

"The one and only" I smirked, Yuna clapped her hands together, excited.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "Well not here, I mean why are you calling?" Yuna grinned sheepishly, just like Tidus had a few moments ago.

_Wonderful, which one of my phoney excuses am I going to use? _

"Well… I was wondering…" I sighed and then blurted out "can I came and see you for a couple of days?" Yuna looked surprised.

"Of course you can! You know you're always welcome here!"

"Thanks Yuna."

The ex-High Summoner gave her fellow Gullwing a strange look which I answered with a raised eyebrow. Yuna gave a small shrug as if to say 'I'm going to find out what's wrong anyway'.

"When are you coming?"

"Well, I'm in Djose Temple right now. When I cut this call I'm going to bed, then I'm going to get up at the break of dawn, get to Luca, catch the S.S.Winno and the S.S.Likki and arrive in Besaid" I explained to my friend as Yuna's eyes grew wide.

"So…from Djose Temple you are going to travel down the Mushroom Rock Road and the Mi'ihen Highroad and get to Luca in time to catch the first ferry to Kilika?!"

"Yeah" I replied with indifference.

"Paine, that's a maximum of three hours if you leave at dawn! The first ferry is at eight o'clock!" I shrugged

"I'm a fast traveller."

"Okay then…"

There was a small uncomfortable pause. Then Yuna opened her mouth to say something

"You said you're in Djose right?" I nodded. "Can you say hi to Rikku and Gippal for me?"

"Sure, but Gippal's away on business, Rikku's just here…" I looked around and saw Rikku sitting in a corner, staring out of the small window, being unusually still and quiet.

"Hang on a sec" I mumbled in to Yuna, who nodded politely. I walked over to where Rikku was sitting and placed a hand on her shoulder. Rikku jumped at the touch and turned to face me.

"Rikku…" I said softly. "What is it?"

"I…" Rikku turned her head away abruptly but I had already seen the tears in her eyes.

"You're worried about Gippal, right?" Rikku didn't say anything, she just nodded. The I did something I hardly ever did, I stepped forward and hugged my al'bhed friend. Rikku tried to hold back her tears but after a few moments her shoulders shook lightly and they began to flow. I didn't know what to do. I decided to stroke her hair softly and tell her not to worry. Slowly Rikku began to calm down.

"Paine?" Yuna's voice called from the commsphere on the table, a hint of worry in it.

"C'mon Rikku, Yuna wats to say hi" I led her over to where the commsphere was sitting. Yuna's furrowed brow turned into a bright smile when her best friend and her cousin walked into view.

"Rikku! How are you?"

"Hey Yunie…" she answered softly.

"Wha…?" I cleared my throat to cut Yuna off and gave her a meaningful look. Yuna opened her mouth but then shut it, nodding in understanding. She watched as a pair of crimson eyes then lit up with an idea. I looked at the still sniffling Rikku, then to a curious and worried Yuna, back to Rikku and then back to Yuna. Yuna seemed to understand what I was thinking because she said:

"Uh… Rikku?" Rikku turned slightly at the sound of her name. "Do you want to come and stay with me in Besaid for a couple of days? Paine's coming" she nodded in my direction. "Well? What do you say?"

Rikku's face seemed to light up with a happiness that didn't quite reach her emerald eyes.

"I'd love that Yunie but…" I squeezed Rikku's arm reassuringly.

"In a couple of days, after I've talked to Yuna about a few things, we'll call Brother and head towards the Calm Lands 'kay?" Rikku was practically beaming now.

"E muja oui kioc" she squealed and threw her arms around me, giving me a quick squeeze. I chuckled.

"Oui'mm hajan lryhka Rikku…"

"C'mon Dr.P we've gotta go and pack!" Rikku said, leaping towards the door, her boundless energy once again released. When she was gone, I turned to Yuna.

"Thanks" I said.

"No problem" she replied. "I'm guessing that it's something to do with a certain Machine Faction leader."

"Yeah… Gippal went to check out some kind of rampaging machina in the…"

"…Calm Lands, yeah, I thought so."

"Well, I'll go and see to Rikku, I don't want to carry around half a temple of machina parts" I said, looking over my shoulder towards the door through which Rikku had disappeared. Yuna just laughed.

"Okay then, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Bye"

"See ya Paine!" Tidus chimed in from the background.

I chuckled and leaned forward to cut the connection. An image of Rikku running around like a mad Behemoth came to my mind. Still laughing to myself, I got up and went after Rikku.

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	7. Flammarius

Disclaimer: uh... yep you've guessed it...  
A/N: I'm baaaack!! from easter holidays without internet (aka: hell) so as an easter pressie i give you all part 2 of chapter 3. Things start to pick up here so enjoy! btw the XOX-XOX mean that the narration is a sort of flashback.

hope you like it!

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**Flammarius**

I was dragged back into consciousness by a ruffling noise. I stirred a little but I didn't open my eyes, I remained in the comforting blackness of unconsciousness even though I was now aware of everything that was going on around me. The ruffling noise persisted, only this time it was accompanied by an anxious squawk. Being stubborn as usual I remained with my eyes closed. Only when I felt something shift underneath me did I open them. For a moment I didn't realise that I had opened my eyes, everything around me was still black. After a few moments my vision focused and I realised that it was late, very late, for the moon was shining above me with its peaceful aura. However the air surrounding me was anything but peaceful, there was tension, anxiousness and even a little fear clouding around me. I sat up and looked around; I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw a pair of chocolate eyes staring back at me. Then I remembered what had happened: I was in the middle of the Calm Lands when a black chimera and a pair of burning machina had come out of nowhere and attacked me, I had been severely injured by the extraordinarily strong fiends, then when I was about to be crushed by the chimera…it ran off, terrified for some reason, and I was left unconscious. When I awoke I found out that I had been saved by my newest companion, the chocobo which I had affectionately named Cyjeuin, then I had fallen asleep.

I looked at Cyjeuin remembering how he had brought me a remedy when I was injured. The deep brown orbs blinked at me, trying to tell me something, something that I couldn't understand. When I didn't respond he squawked again anxiously and ruffled his crest nervously. _Well I've found out what the noise was but what's the matter with him? _

"What's the matter Cyje? What's wrong?" I whispered to him as I lifted my hand to stroke him soothingly. I winced when my muscles protested angrily, they were still sore from the fight. The bird cooed softly at the touch but didn't calm down, he shifted his gaze to look over my shoulder, squawking again, only a little louder this time. I turned slowly and paled slightly when I saw a pair of fire red eyes glaring at us from the darkness. I reached for my dual edged staff but my hand closed around nothing but air.

"Cred" I muttered under my breath. I was unarmed, completely vulnerable to the fiend before me. Judging by the eyes and the silhouette that I could only just make out, I decided it was some kind of fiend from the lupine family. I swore under my breath again, if it was like that chimera or those machinas I was done for. I was still weak from the other fight, no potion or remedy could cure that, the only cure was a good night's sleep and I was being deprived of said rest. My magic hadn't been restored either, ethers and elixirs were extremely rare these days. I cursed myself inwardly for being so stupid, who sets off for a trip across the Calm Lands without any provisions? _I do obviously._

The wolfish creature growled as I pushed myself to my feet, taking a few swift steps towards me and Cyjeuin. The chocobo stayed on the ground, glaring at the fiend as menacingly as he could but with no effect, the lupine continued slinking towards us. I took a few steps forward and positioned myself for a hand to hand combat; I had learned a few moves during my training in the Crimson Squad. I really hoped that the fight would not last more than five minutes, sufficient enough to scare the fiend off if it was a 'normal' fiend, because my whole body was groaning in protest. I wouldn't last long if it was another one of those extraordinarily strong fiends or I would be turned into mushy Praetor pulp.

The lupine stopped when it saw me getting into a fighting position. I noticed its pause and prayed that it would turn around and leave, not wanting to hunt down prey that was willing to put up a fight. Much to my dismay it did no such thing, instead it bared its pearl white fangs and snarled viciously, crouching down until it was in a pouncing position.

"Dammit" I whispered as I watched the fiend's actions. I prepared myself to dodge the imminent attack when I saw the wolfish monster run towards me. With only a few metres to go it jumped, its motive clearer than water. If it got me to the floor it would be able to reach my throat, something that I had to avoid at all costs. I sidestepped its pounce and punched its hind leg as it went flying by me. It yelped and landed unsteadily on the ground. It recovered itself and charged towards me again, trying to nip at my feet. I avoided its pointed daggers and aimed a punch in between its eyes. The fiend leapt backwards to doge my fist and brought its head back round sharply, its fangs slashing the back of my hand. I yelled and pressed my hand against my chest, it was bleeding profusely. The lupine took advantage of my already vulnerable state and pounced on me again. It tackled me to the ground trying to bite my neck. I rolled over and pushed it off me but I didn't get up, I couldn't. My legs felt like jelly and my head was starting to spin due to the loss of blood. The fiend growled angrily and turned towards me, walking deliberately slowly, knowing that it had already defeated its prey. It let out a cruel snarl, showing all of its fangs, now covered in specks of crimson blood, my blood, and ended it in a predatory howl. I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable, the painful fangs sinking into my throat, the blackness of unconsciousness calling to me. I heard another snarl and I braced myself but I shot my eyes back open when I heard a yelp and a dull thud.

Cyjeuin was standing in front of me, one of his big talon-ended feet out in front of him and the fiend lying a few feet away, whimpering. The lupine turned its red eyes towards the bird and then towards its feet, calculating that it wouldn't be a good idea to come within kicking range. Slowly it got up, wobbling a little, and licked its injured side. It turned to us, a new emotion flaring in its eyes, one of vengeance. Cyjeuin ruffled his crest menacingly and pawed the floor, letting out an angry chirp. The fiend looked Cyjeuin over, knowing that it was outsized but not knowing the strength of his new opponent. The chocobo flapped his wings, rushing towards the lupine. The monster made up its mind, turned its heel and ran off, not wanting to get squished by the bird's huge feet. Cyjeuin chased the fiend until it was well away. I marvelled at the bird's bravery and called out to him. The chocobo cocked its head to one side and trotted back over to me.

"You did it again" I stroked his soft feathers admiringly. "Thank you…" Cyjeuin cooed at the touch but ended his coo in an anxious chirp when I passed out, my hand falling dully from his neck.

My mind was resting peacefully in the blackness of unconsciousness when suddenly a bright light blinded me. The light was filtering through my closed eyelids like a miniature sun. I growl rose up from my throat, I took an immediate disliking to this light, the light that had disturbed me from the comfortable blackness in which I was submerged, the light that had brought me back ruthlessly to reality. I wished that the light would go away, along with the excruciating pain that it had brought, a pain that I knew belonged to part of my body but where I still didn't know. I was still stuck between the consciousness and unconsciousness. I tried to focus my mind, I knew that I couldn't remain in the comforting blackness forever… Slowly I regained the feelings in my limbs; I bent both of my knees and wiggled my toes, _good, bottom extremities intact,_ I proceeded to bend one of my arms at the elbow and move my fingers around, _check, _when I went to move my other arm around I was greeted by a pain that was enough to send back into my blissful blackness. I scrunched up my still closed eyes and began swearing under my breath. I held back from opening my chocolate orbs because I was dreading what I would see. Knowing that I didn't really have a choice I opened my eyes millimetre by millimetre, staring straight above me, not wanting to look at my right hand. I was greeted by the sight of the sun, hanging high up in the sky. My eyes became accustomed to the glaring light and slowly drifted to stare at the blue sky; I didn't exactly want to blind myself.

I wanted to delay looking at my hand as much as possible. Suddenly I remembered my companion, the big fluffy chocobo; he had saved me…twice.

"Cyjeuin?" I called out, still looking up at the sky. I heard a distinct shuffle nearby but no happy chirp or a contented coo. I shifted my gaze to look around me. I seemed to be lying on grass, no doubt I was still in the Calm Lands…To my right was a grassy path that led to an even grassier expanse of land, however to my left was a small hut made of scraps of cloth and a few well placed sticks. I lifted my head up a little to stare curiously at the little construction. If my ears hadn't deceived me, the rustling noise had proceeded from the entrance of the hut. I tried calling my friend again.

"Cyjeuin?" I focused my attention on the hut to see if the noise actually came from the mouth of the hut. I jumped when the rustling was heard again, as I thought, from the pile of sticks covered in cloth.

"**Don't worry, your companion is alright,"** I let out a strangled yell when I heard the voice. I thought I had gone mad because I hadn't heard the voice with my ears, I had heard it in my head. I jumped up and looked around wildly only to fall back on my backside with a muffled yelp. As I fell backwards I leant on my right arm, big mistake… I bit my lip so hard that a few droops of blood leaked out from in between my teeth but I didn't scream thankfully. I squeezed my eyes shut, took a deep breath and looked at my right hand.

My hand was covered in a bandage that was scarlet from the blood that was leaking out from my wound. I thanked Yevon that I could only see a bandage, even that was enough for me. I have to admit that I've never had a strong stomach for blood even though I could deal with pain. I was so intent on staring at the bandage that I had forgotten about the voice that I had heard… until it spoke again.

"**You have reopened your injury"** it commented softly with a hint of concern in it. Now I knew I hadn't imagined it. I looked around in search of the origin of the strange voice. I almost jumped out of skin when I turned around and came face to face with a black beak followed by a face covered by red feathers, tribal like tattoos running across its bird like face. When I looked closer I saw that the face belonged to a chocobo, well it looked like a chocobo… in fact it exactly like a chocobo, the only differences were the colour and the markings around its face. The 'chocobo' waited patiently as my perplexed examination continued. When I noticed that my mouth was hanging open and I was gaping at the bird, I closed it quickly I turned my face away, embarrassed.

"I-I'm so sorry, I did not mean to be rude," I said quietly.

"**Do not fret my friend, it is completely normal to be curious. ****Though I have to say I'm glad that you closed your mouth, you wouldn't have wanted to swallow an insect,"** the deep voice sounded in my head once again. I turned to face him again and stared incredulously. The bird seemed to understand what was going on inside my head because it let out a deep coo, one that almost resembled a chuckle.

"**I do realise that I'm an unusual being but please do not worry, I do not wish to harm you, not after I cured you."**

"You did this?" I asked, looking at my bandaged hand. The bird nodded. "Well, I… um… thank you…"

"**Flammarius."**

"Thank you Flammarius."

"**You are most welcome, however with your little jump you have reopened your wound****, and it will need redressing,"** Flammarius crouched down and eyed the bloody bandage with a critical eye, nodding his head now and then. **"Very well, this may sting a little, I'm afraid I don't have any anaesthetic, you were unconscious the first time."**

"It's okay," I said calmly, looking away, I really didn't want to see any more blood. I felt something picking at my right hand and then the bandage falling off. What came next … how did Flammarius put it? Oh yeah… it stung a little. It felt as though I had thousands of needles pricking at my skin, then came a sharp jab and out of the corner of my eye I saw a bright light. _So that's what woke me up…_ I gave a low hiss when I felt a burning sensation on the wound, it caught me off guard, still I tried not to show the pain.

"**There,"** Flammarius' voice sounded again. I looked back at him and then gazed at my rewrapped hand, amazed to see it was as white as my snowy hair. I shifted my gaze to look around me but there was no sign of the stained bandage anywhere. The red bird watched me with an amused look in his eye, as though all the wisdom in Spira was settled in those black orbs. Then he spoke again softly,

"**I'm sure you have many questions** _No, really?_ **"I will be more than glad to answer them, although I cannot assure you of answers for every inquiry." **I nodded, glad to finally finding some answers.

"Um… before I… blacked out I was attacked," I looked at my injured hand sadly. "I was travelling with a companion, a chocobo. His name is Cyjeuin… do you know where he is?" Flammarius let out that low coo again, the one that resembled a chuckle, laughter dancing in his eyes.

"**Yes I do know where you companion is. She was very brave, fighting off that fiend."**

"…she…?" The red bird nodded, the laughter still present in his eyes. I blinked once or twice repeatedly, surprised. "Cyjeuin is a female chocobo?" Flammarius nodded again. _Thank Yevon I didn't go for an only male name… now that would have been awkward…_ Then Flammarius let out a musical chirp and waited patiently. A scratchy noise was heard from the hut, followed by gentle footsteps. A few moments later I heard a happy chirp that I had recognised immediately. I turned to where the chirp had come from and surely enough there was Cyjeuin trotting towards us, a bandage around her leg, but with no difficulties movement wise.

"Cyje!" I got up quickly to stroke her neck as she neared us. I only made it a few feet before I started seeing little white dots and began to get dizzy. Cyjeuin caught me gently on her back and walked over to where I was sitting before, next to Flammarius. She put me down and sat next to me so I was nestled comfortably between the two birds. "Stupid head rush" I muttered as I waited for the white dots to disappear.

"**Close your eyes for a while, it may help,"** I did so and leaned against Cyjeuin, resting my head on her shoulder, just above the wing. **"You have more questions,"** it wasn't an inquiry. I nodded, my eyes still closed. Flammarius waited patiently as I put my thoughts into words.

"What are you? I-I mean what kind of creature are you?" I added not wanting to be rude, opening my eyes just a little to look at Flammarius. "At first I thought you were a chocobo, but your feathers and beak and different colours than normal chocobos and you… you can talk."

"**I was once a ****part of a battle group, they called themselves the Crusaders. They are not the Crusaders of your time though, no, these Crusaders came together much before the Machina War and even earlier than Sin,"** I looked incredulously at the bird, the white dots having disappeared. Flammarius continued his story. **"I will call them the First Crusaders, that way you will understand better. You know of Yevon and New Yevon yes? I would be surprised if you didn't, being the Praetor of New Yevon… Anyhow the First Crusaders were like Yevon and the Crusaders that you know of were like New Yevon, only there was a much bigger time difference,"** I nodded, now understanding what the bird meant, but at the same time realising…

"But then… that must make you… thousands of years old!"

"**I will come to that soon enough,"** I mumbled an apology and let him continue, not wanting to interrupt him again**. "So as I was saying I formed part of the First Crusaders. When I was enrolled by my rider I was the youngest there. I soon made myself comfortable though and in a matter of months I shot up through all the ranks, coming to second the highest rank there was, General of the Armed Forces. I think my quick adaptation skills and my willingness to learn helped me soar through the different ranks, anyway I was named General, coming in behind the Commander. My rider was ecstatic; I even caught him crying with happiness…"** Flammarius let out his bird like chuckle as he remembered. **"When they promoted me, he even dared to ask the Commander for a few days off to go and celebrate. They let us have one night off, sufficient enough to go to the closest bar/restaurant and have a few celebration drinks. Lraan, my rider, was radiating so much happiness that he contaminated everyone that night; we even got a few drinks on the house. Everything was going to perfection until… ****they**** came. At first no one noticed anything strange about them; just a group of people that walked into a bar after a long day's work… that is until they pulled their machine rifles and guns out. Everyone started screaming and rushed to get to the entrance, causing a human stampede in the process. Bullets started going off, smashing glasses and bottles, spraying the drinks everywhere, blood smearing on the floor and the walls… it was horrible… Lraan and I took cover behind the bar and waited for the newcomers to cease fire, or at least to run out of ammo, though we very much doubted that the latter would be very soon. We crouched down and waited eternal minutes for the shooting to stop. A ghostly and eerie silence came over the room, Lraan poked his head around the bar to see where the attackers had gone. When he didn't see anyone he decided to get up and look around murmuring that they were just a bunch of kids that were showing off,"** Flammarius shook his head sadly, his black eyes shining with contained emotion. He lost himself in the memories of his past, staring off into space.

**XOX**

"**One of the attackers came out from behind the door, Lraan had his back turned, vulnerable and defenceless… ****He didn't know what hit him, the man shot him in the back and ran out. Lraan fell to the floor, his shirt already crimson red, blood trickling down the corner of his mouth. I sprinted towards him and hauled him onto my back as gently as I could, with just a flicker of hope that I could make it to the first aid tent in time. By the time I got there my back was covered in his blood and his breathing was so slight I thought several times that he had passed away without me noticing. The doctors all came rushing out and they immediately called for the emergency team. They took the bullet out, it was lodged just beneath his left shoulder blade, so very near his heart I was surprised that he was still alive. Once the bullet was out they covered his whole chest in bandages and laid him back on the narrow bed. The doctors said that he would be okay if he got enough rest, but I could see in their eyes that he had no chance… he had already lost to much blood. I sat by his bedside all night, resting my head next to his limp arm, waiting for the slim chance that he would wake up. Dawn came and with it, much to my surprise, the Commander. When he walked through the door I sat up quickly and gave a half-hearted salute. He nodded his approval and sat down on the other side of Lraan's bed, looking at him with such sadness that I thought I even saw tears shining in his eyes. **

"**He's not going to make it, is he?" he asked me, his gaze still on Lraan. I shook my head.**

"**The doctors said that if he rested enough he would be okay, but they were only saying it to try and console me," I answered. "Not that it helped," I muttered under my breath as an afterthought. The Commander looked at me, a mixture of pity, sadness, understanding and even a little… regret?**

"**I…," He paused, organizing his thoughts. "I know how you feel, and I have to confess something. The people that attacked you in the bar weren't after you or Lraan or anyone else in the bar," I looked at him questioningly. "They were after me, they still are, but they saw that you were my General and Lraan was your rider and decided to take you out, as a warning I suppose… either that or they wanted to hurt me. Both have completed their objective," He looked at me, his eyes now definitely full of tears; I didn't know what to say, I was too dumbfounded. My mind just couldn't accept that Lraan was going to die because of the Commander, even if it wasn't his fault directly. The first reaction that I had was to kick the bird in front of me, but my common sense told me that that wouldn't be a good idea. I looked up at the Commander and stared into his eyes, the question burning in my own…**

"**Why…?" He just shook his head, tears flying as he did so**

"**I have no idea who they are, I just know that they want me terminated. I never wanted my friends to be hurt… Lraan was… is one of the best riders around here, he is also a great person with a heart that you could fill with all the kindness in the world and there would still be room for more, and yet on the battle field he is a cold blooded, merciless soldier with the enemy… You have no idea how much I respect and appreciate him or how lucky you are to have someone like him to ride with." Tears were slowly falling down the Commander's face. I had never seen the Commander in such a vulnerable state, it was the first time I saw him cry. ****Then it suddenly struck me, the Commander had said that I was lucky to have someone like Lraan to ride with and it was to my knowledge that the Commander's rider was killed in a battle… did he envy me? I would never have thought so… I didn't want to think so. As though he had read my mind the Commander spoke again:**

"**I'm not jealous if that if what you're thinking," he said touchily. "I'm just devastated that… he may not make it… Well," he got up brusquely. "Remember that I am here to help you through if the worst comes to the worst… I know what it's like to lose a rider and a friend and Lraan is probably one of the few people I could ever trust with my life…" He turned and left the tent, his shoulders shaking a little. I bowed my head and turned to watch over Lraan once more, not letting sleep take over me, not risking the chance of him leaving without me knowing… Midday came and went and Lraan was still fighting to live on. I was watching him without seeing him, I couldn't see anything through the curtain of crystalline tears that showered down my face. Every now and then I shook my head, not wanting to accept the inevitable. I was about to start ripping my feathers out in despair when I noticed a slight movement. I dried my tears on the sheet and looked at Lraan, a huge weight in my chest as my hopes soared inevitably. There it was again, his finger gave a slight twitch. His chest rose slightly higher and his eyes flickered open until they were slits. He looked around the room, as though he was searching for something. His slightly unfocused eyes rested on me and they immediately focused in recognition. His dry chapped lips opened only to murmur something so quietly that I almost didn't catch it.**

"**Flamma-rius…" he breathed with difficulty.**

"**Shh, don't worry I'm here, I'm not going to leave," nothing would have been able to move me from his side.**

"**I-I…"**

"**Don't say anything, you need to keep your energy if you want to get better," tears were streaming down my face again. By the look that Lraan gave me he knew as well as I did that he wasn't going to 'get better', the only difference was that I had just a slimmer of hope that he would make it through and he was too tired to keep fighting.**

"**L-listen fireball, y-you are the best thing that has ever h-happened to me," he paused to gain a little strength to continue. "You know as well as I do that I'm not going to make it… I-I want you to promise me something." I nodded my head, willing to do anything for Lraan even if he was about to… "Promise me that you will go on living, without me. Live the rest of my life for me, don't you dare do anything stupid because I know that you would," I hung my head in shame, it had been an idea that had come to me, to follow Lraan to the end. "P-promise me Flammarius."**

"**I promise Lraan," I said in a hoarse voice that I hardly recognised as my own. **

"**G-good.**** And take care of the Commander," he whispered and closed his eyes again, his breathing slowing once more.**

"**Lraan?" I stared at him. "Lraan?!" More tears spilled over. "Lraan! No please, not now, please, please…" my shoulders started shaking and I started sobbing against the sheets. It was then when I noticed the slight rose and fall of his chest, slight but still there. I closed my eyes and thanked whoever had given Lraan some more time, I just wasn't ready, and I don't think I ever was… I stayed like that until darkness was coming down upon us again, the doctors hadn't come again, it was almost as if they had abandoned him. I placed my head next to Lraan's arm and covered his bandaged chest with my wing so I could feel the movement that indicated that he was still fighting. I closed my eyes for a moment, exhaustion taking over my body. It felt as though only seconds had gone by when I felt a shudder against my wing.**

"**Lraan?"**

"**R-remember p-pro-mise" a whisper fell through his lips. **

**XOX**

**His chest gave another shudder and ceased total movement. I nudged him gently with my wing, whispering his name gently. When I didn't get a reaction I nudged him again a bit harder. I knew it was futile but I nudged him again, this time screeching his name as loud as I could. Some of the soldiers told me later that it was loud enough to wake the dead… kind of ironic really… At my screeching the doctors and the guards came in thinking I was being attacked. They tried to get me away from Lraan's body ****but I kicked and bit until I knocked one of the guards out. After that they left me alone but later they came back again to take Lraan away. I followed them to the cemetery and sat down by his grave for the rest of the night. I kept on screeching in despair, not bothering to listen to all the complaints. I spent three days like that, sitting by Lraan's grave until they came and fed me forcefully. I hadn't eaten since the attack, I hadn't left Lraan's side, and sincerely I didn't care about taking care of myself. I ceased my screeching after that but I didn't move for the rest of the week. Four more days passed and I sat there monotonously staring at where Lraan was resting. It was on that fourth day when the Commander came and sat by my side. He didn't say anything at first and neither did I, it was then when I remembered that Lraan had asked me to take care of the Commander. I glanced at him through the corner of my eye, taking in how distressed he looked. **

"**General," he said, still watching the grave. "There are enemy troops approaching, we must prepare for battle." I nodded, knowing it was my duty to stand side by side with the Commander when we entered battle. The Commander turned to me with a look of utmost sadness in his eyes. "I know you do not wish to part from his side, but there will be time to mourn after we finish with the enemy." I stood up slowly; the tears had long gone dried up, I cried them all during the past week. The Commander followed and together we walked back to the camp, murmuring possible plans of action half-heartedly. ****In a few hours everything was ready and we were standing on the edge of the battlefield, waiting for the enemy troops to appear on the horizon. They never came… in their place a strange looking canon was pulled towards the battlefield by four men. The Commander sent a messenger to demand an explanation. As the bird sprinted down the men pulling the canon ran off, making the messenger halt in confusion. Then… it exploded. **

**A huge mushroom shaped cloud expanded kilometres into the air, we watched in horror. Then the force of the explosion reached us, the shockwaves literally sent us flying through the air, the heat burning our men instantly. I didn't know what happened but I was thrown into the air with the first shockwave, the Commander as well, and I instantly blacked out when I hit the floor. When I awoke I thought I was in hell. Everything around me was burning, there where corpses, soldiers and riders alike, strewn across the battlefield as far as the eye could see, burnt until they were unrecognisable. I looked myself over, I also was burnt badly. My wings were charred and I couldn't feel my legs. I also noticed that the feathers on my neck and my chest were black as coal. I gazed at my surroundings, taking in all the destruction that had been caused by the bomb. I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard a ragged breath behind me. I turned and saw the Commander lying on the floor in a much worse state than I was. I dragged myself towards him with difficulty, my legs where useless and most of my body was also burnt. When I reached his side he drew another ragged breath and his eyes fluttered shut. I called out his name, my throat raw and my voice raspy. I gave him a peck on the beak, careful not to hit the burnt part, and his eyes opened just a little at the touch. I looked at him with a pleading look in my eyes and all he did was shake his head feebly and close his eyes again. I pecked him again but he didn't respond. I let out an anguished cry and looked around for help, all there was to see was a flaming inferno with blackened corpses littered everywhere. I couldn't accept, wouldn't accept, that two of my closest friends had gone in a space of a week. I couldn't let the Commander die as well; I had to keep my promise to Lraan.** **I don't know how I managed it but I dragged the Commander and myself towards the shelter of a jagged rock to our left. The little excursion took all of my strength and a will of steel to reach the objective. Once I got the Commander and myself under the rock I collapsed, literally. I had no more strength left in me, my whole body was aching from exhaustion. Slowly I let the blackness of unconsciousness come over me and I blacked out next to the Commander's body. **

**I don't know what happened then, I just remember waking up in a place full of white light. At first I thought I was dead but then I felt a pulling sensation and my surroundings changed. I was looking down upon the battlefield, the same battlefield where I had been before I had lost consciousness. The strangest thing was that I could see my body lying underneath the shelter of the rock next to the Commander's. After a few moments a figure in white appeared next to my body, the one I could see on the battlefield, and it started emanating a pure white light. When it faded away the figure was gone, as were the Commander's body and mine. I jumped with fright when I heard a voice asking me if I wanted a second chance. I pondered over the question and asked the voice if I could have a second chance to complete my promise to Lraan. It agreed and everything went black again. ****When I awoke once again I was in a place much like this one, with the Commander waking up beside me. I was over the moon, I thanked the mysterious figure in white for giving me a second chance and I turned to watch the Commander who was looking very dazed indeed. **

**When he saw me the first thing he said was: **"**Where are we? Why aren't we dead?" I proceeded to explain what had happened, from waking up after the explosion to the white figure's question. When I finished the look he had on his face was one of utter disbelief and suspicion. Not much happened for several years, we built a small hut, found a reliable source of food and water and lived comfortable lives for a while. The**** Commander was a little averse to this new lifestyle but slowly he began to accept that what I had told him was true and he had another chance to live his life. Everything was going fine, I was completing my promise to Lraan, I was looking after the Commander and we lived our 'second lives' with such relaxation that one could believe that time had actually stopped. Ten years passed and a dreadful thing happened, the Commander fell sick. It was some sort of strange disease that I had never seen before. I looked after him as well as I could but I didn't help, after a few weeks it got worse. He passed away three weeks and four days after he caught the virus. **

**I fell into depression, I had lost two of the most important people in my life and I was now alone in a world that I hardly recognised. I felt guilty because I hadn't been able to look after the Commander properly, I had let him die. I kept tormenting myself, I stopped eating, I stopped sleeping, I stopped doing anything, all I did was sit in the hut and stare at the sky through the doorway. I spent several days like that, until one day… I think I fell unconscious from the lack of food and sleep but I remember seeing Lraan come to me in my dreams and telling me that I was breaking my promise, I wasn't living both our lives for him… he also told me that I already completed part of my promise by looking after the Commander. I recall telling him that I didn't complete any promise, I let the Commander die. Lraan got angry with me and told me that I was talking nonsense, that I was the one who helped the Commander when he most needed it. Slowly but surely I began to forgive myself and I went on living in the small hut. I often visited nearby towns and cities, you wouldn't know the names as they were destroyed with the appearance of Sin, and I tried living as well as I could so that Lraan would be happy. Years and years went by and I began to realise that I wasn't aging, time continued and I watched other generations be born and die but I continued living. I guessed it was something to do with the mysterious figure in white that saved me on the day of the explosion and my second chance. And so I've watched Spira over thousands of years, I've followed all the journeys of the summoners on their pilgrimage to defeat Sin but I took special interest in Lady Yuna's journey… the High Summoner who vanquished Sin once and for all and then went and saved Spira from the threatening Vegnagun. Yes, I have followed her adventures with much interest… I hope one day I will have the honour to actually be able to speak with her… However I have also taken special interest in your journey through life, young Praetor, so when I found you lying unconscious in the middle of the Calm Lands I decided to take action. And so we find ourselves here, and I have reached the end of my story. I apologize for talking for so long, I got caught up in my memories."**

I just stared at Flammarius speechless and overwhelmed by his story for during his narration he showed me images of his thoughts in my mind, as though I were watching a sphere. I had shuddered at the scene of the battlefield and tears had come to my eyes when I saw the pain Flammarius had been through when Lraan was shot. I had many questions still but I thought it would be best to let the red bird rest for a while.

"Thank you for telling me your story Flammarius, I had no idea about the history of Spira before Sin came. I knew there were many machina cities and people lived comfortable lives but actual historic facts…"

"**I have to confess that you are the first person I have talked to since the downfall of Vegnagun and the first to know of my past since the Commander passed away,"** I was surprised, pleasantly surprised, at that piece of information.

"It is an honour but why me? I am no one special" Flammarius cocked his head a little and grinned as well as a bird could and said,

"**You remind me of someone special,"** I looked at him inquisitively, waiting patiently for him to continue, Flammarius cooed his chuckle and added **"You look as though you could be Lraan's twin."**

My jaw just dropped, I definitely wasn't expecting that but the bird hadn't finished. **"When I saw you there lying unconscious on the ground, something told me that it was a special moment and an opportunity that destiny had given me. An opportunity to do what I do no know." **I sat there gazing at Flammarius, wondering why fate had made our paths cross. I wasn't regretting it, oh no quite the contrary I was delighted to have met Flammarius, it meant that I had now found another good friend and someone to tell me exciting stories of the times before Sin. While I was caught up in my thoughts Flammarius spoke again.

"**You ought to get some rest, you need it. Are you comfortable enough or do you want to go into the hut?"**

"I'm fine out here. Flammarius…?"

"**Mmm?"**

"Is that… is that the same hut that you and the Commander lived in?" I didn't really want to intrude on his privacy too much but I felt an inexplicable urge to ask him that particular question. Flammarius turned his head slightly to gaze at the hut with an indecipherable expression, then he nodded slowly turning back to look at me.

"**It is."**

We sank into a comfortable silence as each of us pursued our own thoughts. I lent back on Cyjeuin, who had fallen asleep, and looked up at her peaceful face affectionately. I gazed up at the stars that had come up; a whole day had gone past although it only felt as though Flammarius had been talking for a couple of hours. '_It must have been the images and all that that made the time fly by so quickly' _was the last thing I remember thinking before I fell into a deep and peaceful slumber. It wasn't as peaceful as I would of wished it to be... crimson eyes haunted my dreams that night. I couldn't stop thinking about what I had been about to do. Silently I thanked Flammarius and Cyjeuin because, even though they didn't know, they had stopped me from doing something I would've seriously regretted. They had reminded me that I had many things in this world to keep me going, friendship being a big part of those things.

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	8. Killer sandwiches and fits of laughter

Disclaimer: still don't own it...

Hey I've got another chapter for you guys The plot is starting to twist at last, the most exciting chapters are still to come. Here is a little preview of part 2 of chapter 4:

"As a thank you for everything you've done for me I will introduce you to Lady Yuna, she is a personal friend of mine."  
**"I would be most honoured Baralai."**  
We both looked up at the sky, enjoying each others company. I stroked Cyjeuin's feathers with my good hand while my injured one lay on my lap. The silence was broken by a loud gunshot followed by the sound of a huge explosion. I jumped up and looked around, there was nothing different. Flammarius stood up calmly.  
**"I will go and find out what has happened, stay here with Cyjeuin."** I nodded at sat down by Cyje again. I waited patiently for Flammarius to come back. I think I dozed off because Cyjeuin nudged me awake at the sound of Flammarius' returning footsteps. I blinked several times to get the sleep out of my eyes and turned to look at the red bird. He was walking awkwardly for he was carrying something on his back. He placed the body gently on the floor next to me. I took one look at the figure and let out a strangled yell.  
"What the hell is he doing here?! What happened?!"

Muahaha, big big things are going to happen in the next chappie.

Anyway coming back to this one, I hope you like it. Some of you may think that Paine is a little OOC but hey, she needs to unwind a bit.

A big big thank you to my reviewers, especially DragonGirl323, you've helped me a lot. This is the first time I ask but please review, it means a lot to me.

Enjoy!!

* * *

**Killer sandwiches and fits of laughter**

Sure enough I found Rikku running in and out of the other side chamber, screaming orders at the startled workers that had gathered at the sight of their co-leader running through the temple like a maniac.

"Get Nhadala here! She's in charge while I'm gone! Clean up that broken down machina! Where's my garmet grid?! Stop staring and get back to work! Hey you!" Rikku pointed at one of the workers.

"Me?"

"Yes, go and call Nhadala and make sure she's here in an hour!"

"Oac sy'ys, nekrd yfyo sy'ys, frydajan oui cyo sy'ys!" the worker said quickly, not wanting to get in trouble and be told off by a hyper-active crazy albhed. I sighed as I saw the poor worker scurry off to call Nhadala and walked over to Rikku, who was waving her arms around while she continued shouting.

"Rikku!" I said sternly causing her to jump and turn around to face me. "Will you just relax? You're working yourself up for nothing, cut it out!"

"But Paaaaaine, we're gonna go and see Yunie!" she whined back.

"You just saw her through the commshpere," I pointed out, crossing my arms over my chest. Rikku twirled one of here braids around her finger and grinned sheepishly up at me.

"Okay, okay, I'll calm down," I rolled my eyes; if anyone could get Rikku to calm down I would reward them with at least fifty respect points. Rikku carried on as though she didn't see my reaction. "So are you all packed and ready to go?" I paused, thinking of the small duffel bag I had brought with me, a bag that I had only opened to put the provisions I had bought at Rin's place in.

"...yeah, I'm packed."

"Okiedokie, let's get this show on the road, or rather into the bedroom. We need to sleep now if we want to be up before dawn."

"Rikku, it's not even midday."

"Uh... I'm a heavy sleeper okay?" she faltered under my gaze. "Fine! I'll wait until Nhadala comes, we'll have lunch and then we'll sleep." I nodded my approval and watched Rikku as she ran around the temple trying to find the worker she had sent to call Nhadala. If he was intelligent enough he would inform Rikku that Nhadala was coming as quickly as she could and then get out of the way. I decided to go outside to get some fresh air; the temples tend to get pretty stuffy, especially if there's loads of exhaust fumes and machina oil in the air.

I walked past the small building where they were interviewing future diggers and stopped at the start of the bridge that was known as Pilgrimage Road. I lent on the rail and gazed out towards the sparkling water beneath me. My thoughts kept on returning to a certain snowy white haired man with chocolate coloured eyes. I tried to close them out, it was no use. So I focused on the reason, the reason I had let him go, the reason he should be happy now, the reason I was in such pain right now... _Shut up! It's your own bloody fault. You said you want him to be happy, no matter what. You've hidden your feelings loads of times before so that others could be happy, you can do it again. So what if he's thinking about some other girl? If he's going to be happier with her then so be it, sure it hurts but this is Baralai we're talking about, you would do anything to see him happy. He deserves to be happy after what happened to him and his connection with Vegnagun. And you'll still be by his side as a friend when he needs it._

"Friend hm?" I muttered under my breath after scolding myself mentally. Friendship was probably the only thing keeping me going, I wasn't interested in gil, or jobs, or fame or all of that stuff that came running after you once you've saved the world. When I was about to submerge myself once again in my thoughts Rikku came trotting out of the temple.

"Hey Dr.P! Nhadala is already here, she's just arrived. You wanna come in and grab something to eat?"

"Fine by me," I walked back towards the temple, Rikku had already bounded in again. I found her to one side making some sandwiches. I raised an eyebrow when she handed me one. She shrugged and said

"The cook is ill, and you know perfectly well I can burn toast so I opted for sandwiches, you can't burn those," she grinned at me and took a bite out of her sandwich. I looked down at mine sceptically and took a cautious bite. Then I looked up at Rikku, surprised. The sandwich was delicious, either she was had been practicing her cooking skills or someone else had made them. I would have gone for the latter but I saw Rikku grab a knife and some bread out of a bag and she made herself another sandwich, having gulped down her first in a matter of seconds. She caught me staring and started laughing.

"Gippal makes these killer sandwiches and he taught me how to make them myself. How did he put it? Oh yeah, 'so you can survive in the wilderness of Spira without your gorgeous Prince Charming by your side.' He spent the entire afternoon writing down his combinations and teaching me how to make some of my own. The one you're eating is an experiment," I jumped and started choking. "Hey, hey, I was just kidding!" I relaxed visibly, there was no way I was going to be Rikku's guinea pig for her experimental cooking. I finished my sandwich and asked for another. Rikku giggling to herself made me another. When she handed it to me she was still giggling.

"What have you done to it?"

"N-nothing," Rikku was desperately trying to hold back her laughter. I raised an eyebrow at her and she gave in. "Oh fine killjoy, that is what Gippal calls the Imdesyda Rihkan Gemman Vun Cdilg Ib Fynneunc Mega Tn. B."

"I have my own sandwich?" Rikku nodded and burst out laughing. I made a mental note to throttle Gippal when we found him.

"Don't worry Yunie, Nooj, Baralai and I all have personal sandwiches as well. Gippal's still working on Tidus' sandwich though." I rolled my eyes. Rikku yawned pointedly and stretched her arms behind her head.

"We've had lunch and Nhadala's here," she said, as if I hadn't caught her indicated yawn.

"Uh-huh. Lead the way then." Rikku jumped up and ran towards the bedroom. I followed her a little slower, I really don't know how she can run everywhere, it tires people just to look at her. I found her placing sheets on a pull out bed next to her's and Gippal's. She turned when she heard me entering the room and smiled at me. Then she went over to her chest of drawers and pulled out some chocobo pyjamas.

"Nighty night Paine!" she said as she jumped in between the sheets. I muttered a good night but Rikku was already fast asleep. I looked at her curiously, wondering if that was where she got all her energy from, afternoon naps. I shrugged and laid down on the bed, knowing I wouldn't be able to fall asleep until it was dark. I spent hours just staring up at the ceiling, lost in my own train of thoughts. When I came back down to earth I saw that the sky was already darkening outside. That was the advantage of being the leader of the Faction. Rikku and Gippal's bedroom was one of the two that actually had a window. I sighed and turned over, this time actually trying to fall asleep. Rikku hadn't budged, she was still curled up cosily under her sheets. I felt my eyes close and I drifted off into the darkness.

It felt as though only minutes had gone by when I opened my eyes again. That's why I was surprised to see that Rikku's alarm clock read 4:30 AM. I gazed up at the ceiling, trying to will myself to sleep for another half an hour. I knew it was impossible so my mind decided to wonder.

_I love night time. It's dark but also light. The vast extension of the sky is __illuminated by specks of light, stars, great big balls of fiery gas... I used to spend hours contemplating its beauty but now I find it so empty, cold, endless. I wonder what made me change my mind... I guess it's because that's the way I feel, empty because I left my heart in Bevelle, cold because I don't have you to keep me warm and endless because that's what my pain feels like..._

_**Sheesh, your fluffy side is finally showing huh?**_

_So what? Everybody has a fluffy side, some just don't __display it often._

_**Whatever, you need to talk to Yuna pronto.**_

_I guess... I wonder if he's thinking about m-_

_**No! Don't finish that sentence! Stop thinking about him, at least until you speak with Yuna.**_

I sighed, anyone would think I was mad if they heard the internal wars going on in my head. Looking back at Rikku's alarm clock I saw that only two minutes had gone by.

"Oh what's the point of trying to sleep when I know it's going to be impossible," I muttered to myself as I got up and went to the bathroom to wash up. When I returned I saw that Rikku was still fast asleep on her bed.

"Rikku," I said softly, tapping her gently on her shoulder. She shifted underneath the blankets but she didn't wake up.

"Rikku," I said again, a little louder this time.

"Gippaaaal... I wanna be lazy bones today," her voice was muffled by the pillow but I still made out what she said. Smirking a little I tapped her on the shoulder again.

"C'mon Rikku get up."

"Noo... I'm lazy bones today, it's my turn not yours." I chuckled, a devious plan forming in my head to wake Rikku up. I looked around for something to record it with, if it worked it would be perfect for blackmailing and if it didn't... well I suppose I could always erase the recording. Then I spotted it, a little blue sphere sitting on the chest of drawers. I checked it to see if it was blank and placed it on Rikku's bedside table, the view would be excellent. I pressed the record button, explained the situation and my plan and proceeded to bend down and whisper in Rikku's ear.

"You know Rikku, I'll marry you and have seven kids if you wake up now." My plan worked, Rikku shot up immediately and looked around, obviously looking for Gippal. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing at Rikku's reaction.

"Paine? Whaddaya doin' here?" she murmured rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Where did Gippal go? Was it just a dream?" then she spotted the sphere that was still recording her.

"Paine?" she whispered in a dangerously soft voice. I looked at her, still holding back my laughter. Her eyes were burning with fury, my laughter died away immediately. "You recorded that." It wasn't a question. I just looked at her, laughter still dancing in my crimson eyes.

"I'm going to kill you!" she yelled and started chasing me around the bedroom. I ran to where I was keeping my sword and pointed it towards Rikku, halting her immediately. Then she burst out laughing,

"You should have seen your face," she said, clutching the stitch in her side. "Okay, now seriously what are you doing here?"

"Well, I was waking you up so we could leave but I think I've done that pretty well."

"Huh? Leave...?" Rikku looked lost for a moment but then she remembered. "Oh...! Okiedokie let's get moving!"

Where the hell does she get all that energy? I wondered as I watched the Al'bhed rush around checking and double checking her luggage.

"You know you don't have to take half the temple with you right?"

"Duh! Course I do Dr.P! I'm picking up all the dresspheres and important garmet grids. After our visit to Yunie we're going directly to the Calm Lands, I'm not wasting anymore time!"

"I have to say I'm impressed, you are the act first think later type, why the change?"

"There are things that are too important in life to lose just because you haven't got a plan of action."

"Three respect points."

"But, but..."

"Three more respect points," Rikku was practically beaming.

"C'mon Paine, let's go."

And so we left the temple silently, not wanting to wake anybody, after all it was quarter to five in the morning. Once we were outside Rikku stopped and I turned to look at her questioningly.

"So what's our goal?" she said in a perfect imitation of Tidus. A smile tugged the corner of my lips as I answered.

"Cross the Mushroom Rock Road, the Mi'ihen Highroad and get to Luca before the first ferry leaves."

"What?! That gives us like three hours!"

"Well we should stay here and chat then" I replied in my usual monotone voice. Rikku huffed and bounded forward yelling "Slowpoke!" over her shoulder at me. I rolled my eyes and picked up a quick pace to catch up with Rikku. We rented a couple of hover like motorbikes from the al'bhed that was standing at the cross roads and drove down the road. As we stopped at the turn going to the Youth League's HQ Captain Lucil stepped out to greet us.

"Why hello there Gullwings."

"Hiya!"

"What are you doing here if I may ask?"

"We're going to Luca to catch a ferry."

"Oh right," Lucil nodded. "Would you like to pass for a few moments? I'm sure Mevyn Nooj would be glad to have a visit."

"Since when is he glad about anything?"

"What Paine means is that we have to hurry, otherwise we'll miss the ferry."

"Very well, continue," Lucil saluted. "Please visit soon though."

"Will do!" Rikku waved and bounced off with me at her heels. I just couldn't stand another moment in Lucil's presence. We never 'clicked' shall we say, we were just not meant to be friends. It's not as though I hate her, I just dislike her.

Once we reached the end of the Mushroom Rock Road, Rikku stopped and looked around.

"Hey Paine... how come we haven't been attacked by fiends yet?"

"I'm wearing the charm bangle, we can't waste time fighting fiends when we're in a hurry."

"Ah..."

"However on the Highroad the fiend population is higher so we may be attacked once or twice," I pointed out to warn Rikku and started walking again.

"Uh... Paine?"

"Yes?" I said without stopping.

"Why are we in such a hurry?" Rikku asked, jogging to catch up to me.

"You want to go and check on Gippal as soon as possible right?"

"Yeah but..." from the look she gave me, Rikku knew I was hiding something but she kept her mouth shut, probably not wanting to risk losing her newest respect points.

When we reached Rin's Travelling Agency we stopped after several minutes of Rikku's whining and persuasion skills.

"C'mon just ten minutes? I need to stock up on hi-potions anyways..."

"Fine, ten minutes, not one more. If your skinny butt isn't out here in exactly ten minutes it's gonna be hurt time got it?"

"Yes!" Rikku squeaked as she rushed inside. After precisely nine minutes she came out again and stood in front of me, grinning.

"See! Not even ten minutes!"

"Alright, now let's move it."

"Okay, okay let's go then," a refreshened Rikku said and started running down the Highroad. I followed, keeping a close eye on her, but without running. Unlike Rikku, I didn't have an unstoppable source of energy.

Suddenly Rikku stopped and rocked back and forth on her heels looking worried and slightly nervous. I caught up with her and looked at her inquisitively.

"The machina...," she started. I perked up immediately, something in Rikku's tone of voice meant that it was serious. "The machina... they're gone!" I looked around and realised that it was true. "I've only seen two so far, there should be loads more guarding the road... What if people have been attacked? What should we do? Where have the machina gone? Oh... poopie..."

"Okay, for starters no one has been attacked because we would have seen them, two when we get to Luca we will inform the Youth League commanders there and they'll take care of it, and three well that sound like a job for the Gullwings doesn't it?"

Rikku turned to face me, a smile on her lips and her emerald eyes burning with determination. _Never mess with an al'bhed's machina._ I quoted the old phrase in my head.

"Very well, we need Yunie A.S.A.P! Come on" Rikku said and ran off. I decided to run as well, this was urgent. As we neared the entrance to Luca we noticed that the machina were also missing here. We ran down the steps and into the square and began searching for someone in a Youth League uniform. After a few minutes Rikku's eyes lit up in recognition and she started bouncing up and down, waving her hand and shouting,

"Maroda! Hey Maroda, over here!"

I looked over in the direction that Rikku was waving and saw a dark skinned man with jet black hair and dark brown eyes waving back. I recognised him as the guy that did some undercover research in Bevelle for the Youth League and the same guy that had made them leave the entrance to the Den of Woe when the Gullwings had followed Logos and Ormi there. He waved back and made his way over to us.

"Well if it isn't the Gullwings! What brings you to Luca?"

"We could ask you the same question," I interjected. "Weren't you in Bevelle?"

"Guys! This is no time for chitchat," Rikku said before Maroda could open his mouth to answer. "Maroda, the machina guards from the Highroad are missing."

"What?!" Rikku and I nodded simultaneously.

"Well I'll get a message to Nooj immediately. I'll round up a team of soldiers to guard the road until the machina are either found or replaced."

"Thanks."

"If I may have your leave ladies," I nodded as Maroda turned and ran off in the opposite direction.

"Poopie," I heard Rikku mutter softly. I raised an eyebrow at her. "If something is wrong with the machina the al'bhed are going to get the blame," she explained.

"Come on, we have to get to the docks," I said as I started walking off towards the other side of the square, high heels clicking on the floor.

"Hey wait up!" Rikku jogged up to me and we continued our journey. We arrived quite quickly, seeing that it was still pretty early in the morning.

"Pfft." I turned at the sound and saw Rikku laughing into her scarf.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"This is where we kicked Leblanc's Syndicate butt for the first time."

"Good times..." I smirked as I remembered the scene that had taken place.

"Yep" Rikku continued giggling.

"What now?"

"Nothing, I'm just remembering Logo's and Ormi's faces when Yuna unleashed a trigger happy on them. It was like so cool, with the somersault and everything," Rikku was moving around enthusiastically. "They looked as though they were dancing on Cactuars." She started laughing again and didn't stop until we boarded the ferry.

"All aboard!" the ferry's captain shouted, making sure that all of his passengers were on safely. I lent on the rail, watching the open ocean, a faraway look in my eyes. Rikku noticed and hopped onto the rail that I was leaning on and waved a hand in front of my face.

"Spira to Paine! Come in Paine!"

I blinked and looked at Rikku angrily.

"What?" I snapped at the blonde. Rikku leaned back instinctively, it was never a good idea to angry me but by the look on her face she had no idea what she had done to make me react like that. She had done it before and all I had done was give her an annoyed glare and a sarcastic comment.

"U-uh nothin', you just spaced out," my features softened.

"I'm sorry Rikku."

Rikku's brow crinkled up in thought, I could almost hear her thinking _'What the hell is wrong with Paine?'_ and to tell you the truth she has a good reason to think that... I never apologize directly to anybody. She opened her mouth to say something but I already had a pretty good idea on what she was about to say so I interrupted my friend before she said anything.

"Look Rikku, I know what you're going to say," Rikku's mouth closed and she blinked, surprised. "I know I haven't been myself lately..." the al'bhed snorted and rolled her eyes, grinning like mad. I ignored her and continued. "In the past few days I've been through a lot of stuff that I have no intention whatsoever on repeating. It's something personal, something I have to get through on my own understand?" Rikku shook her head defiantly. "What happened was my own decision, now I have to move on through this phase of my life on my own. It would be helpful if you didn't pester me about it anymore ok?" The last part of the sentence was said with a little more edge to it. Rikku nodded slowly and looked up into my eyes. I looked back at her and saw a mixture of worry, concern, sadness and a little bit of hurt...

"I'm sorry Rikku, I didn't mean to be so harsh..."

"Hey, don't worry about it okay?" Rikku put a hand on my shoulder to reassure me. "Listen, Paine... I don't know what happened and I don't mind if you don't want to tell me, but remember that I will always be here by your side to help you with absolutely anything, no matter how diasterrific...," I smiled at Rikku's choice of words, she didn't notice though and she continued talking, staring out into the ocean. "... and I'm sure that Yuna would do anything for you as well! YRP are inseparable you know that! So all you have to do is look over your shoulder and I'll be there, annoying as ever, watching your back, no matter what!" I let out a small chuckle and turned towards Rikku.

"Thank you Rikku, I needed that... Come here," I said as I held out my arms to hug my best friend. Rikku jumped off the rail and leapt into my arms.

"Anytime Dr.P," she said in her usual chirpy voice. I responded by giving her a huge bear hug, lifting her off the ground and twirling her around. Rikku squealed as she flew through the air, holding onto me for dear life. "Man I really need to do these speeches more often if I get reactions like that!" I put her down and turned to lean on the rail again, chuckling as I answered.

"Don't worry, it was a one in a lifetime kinda thing." I laughed when Rikku pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Poopie..." she muttered, loud enough for me to hear.

"Pfft..." Rikku turned towards me. I was bright red, trying to hold in my laughter. A few moments later the dam burst and I started howling with laughter.

"Humpf! What's so funny?" Rikku demanded.

"Y-you-your face," I replied as I pounded on the rail, still laughing. Soon Rikku started giggling at the sight of me laughing. Giggles turned to laughter and laughter turned to shrieks of mirth. Both of us slid down to the floor and we were rolling around, clutching the stitches in our sides, gasping as we tried to get our breaths back. We spent a good quarter of an hour on the floor before we finally calmed down. We lay there resting as the colour of our faces returned to normal.

"That's the first time I see you laugh like that," Rikku said, turning to lie on her stomach.

"I've never seen you do that face before."

Ya know, we should have recorded that... I bet Gippal, Baralai and Nooj would have loved to watch it, not to mention Yuna, Tidus, Wakka and Lulu," Rikku commented but regretted saying those words as soon as they left her mouth. She looked over to where I was lying on my back on the floor of the deck. I think she suspected that Baralai had something to do with what I was going through. "Um, sorry Paine I didn't mean..."

"It's okay," I cut her off with a wave of my hand. "I'm worried about Gippal too. As soon as we see Yuna we'll set off."

Rikku nodded but she knew perfectly well that I knew she meant somebody else when she apologized. We stood in silence for the rest of the journey, staring out into the glittering ocean, both submerged in our own thoughts. The captain's voice startled us out of our peaceful silence.

"In five minutes we shall be docking in Kilika Port. Please gather your luggage and head towards the landing ramp."

I sighed, annoyed that the silence had been broken. It was then that I noticed that a certain bubbly al'bhed was missing. I looked around the deck for a figure in a bikini and a mini skirt. I raised my eyebrows when I spotted her leaning against the rails, a few metres away, talking with a tall, very tanned, blond man. I narrowed my eyes when I saw the man lean over Rikku flirting shamelessly. I let out a low snarl and began to walk quickly towards the pair. Before I reached them though, I saw Rikku smile sweetly and lean towards the man. Then in less than a millisecond she stamped on his foot, cuffed him over the head and shoved him over the rail. Rikku just watched him fall into the water, giggling to herself. I jogged over to her and looked at her questioningly. Rikku just turned to look at me and said,

"Come on, let's go and wait for him on the dock."

"Wha-?" I just stared at her dumbfounded, watching her go into the cabin and come back out again, holding their small duffel bags.

"Hey! Come on Miss-I've-never-seen-my-friend-push-a-man-into-the-water-so-I'm-standing-here-looking-like-a-doofus." I just blinked.

"Uh-huh, that name really suites me."

"I know," Rikku replied as she bounded off towards the ramp to wait for this man to come out of the water. I followed curiosity burning inside me.

* * *


	9. rumo cred

Hi everyone!! sorry bout the long wait... to make up for it, this chappie0s extra long! it's the longest one yet!! Enjoy and tell em what you think, any requests or ideas for future chapter are more than welcome!

**Disclaimer:** things haven't changed much since the last update...

**

* * *

****Rumo cred**

The basilisk let out a low hiss as its eye started to glow purple. I waited until the last moment and sidestepped, missing the petrifying beam by inches. Before the basilisk could realise it had missed its target I dashed between its arms and punched the joint where its neck met its shoulder. The snake like creature let out a shriek of shock and surprise as it retreated, writhing in pain as its now useless arms lay limply by its side.

I turned around to look at Flammarius, who was sitting next to a rock with Cyjeuin by his side. He nodded approvingly, a faint flicker of sadness in his eyes. I knew he was thinking about Lraan and I felt a pang of pain, knowing I couldn't do anything to cheer him up. Even though he didn't know, I often caught him staring out into space lost in his memories. I felt so useless, I still do, because I had tried to cheer him up just hadn't worked. I wanted to do something to express my gratitude for everything that he's done for me and I couldn't even do something as simple as cheering him up... He took care of me, he healed my injured hand, he let Cyjeuin and me stay and now he was showing me how to fight hand to hand like they did back in his time. Now I had a new goal in life: I would become more like Lraan so that Flamarius would feel as though he had gone back in time and therefore the happier moment of his life. So I tried my best to become like him. Flammarius' revelation that I looked like Lraan gave me courage to reach my goal. To start with I asked Flammariusd to show me Lraan's hand to hand combat technique. To clear up any suspicions I told the fire coloured bird I had lost my dual edged rod and my close combat technique was too poor to depend on for survival and therefore needed improving. I wasn't lying either so my conscious was guilt free.

That's how I ended up here, fighting a ten foot basilisk with only my fists. But I was worried about Cyjeuin, a chocobo like her should be terrified, being as close as she was to the fiend. However she was unusually calm, which led me to think that Flammarius has some kind of power over fellow chocobos or perhaps Cyje was simply used to fiends being this close.

Just then Cyje gave a warble of warning and I turned just in time to see the basilisk's tail flying towards me. I wasn't able to duck in time and I was sent crashing into the ground a few metres away. The force of the landing knocked the breath out of my lungs, I lay still for a few moments heaving slightly to get air back into my body. Once I was breathing normally and checking I had no broken ribs I stood up dignintly as I could and walked, or more likely, strided towards the basilisk. Staying calm was the first thing I learned about fighting. Never let your rage get a hold on you unless it's an emergency and only if you can use it to your advantage.

As soon as I was within range the basilisk whipped its still mobile arm around but I jumped neatly out of the way. It hissed angrily and raised its tail to charge an electric spell. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted jagged stone several feet away. The hairs on the back of my neck tingled as I felt the static in the air. I dropped and rolled towards the stone, turning just in time to see a lightning bolt charr the spot I had been in a few seconds ago. I stood up only to duck again when the basilisk's tail headed towards me. I realised that I wouldn't be able to get close enough so I closed my eyes and concentrated. I streched out a hand, the one that wasn't holding the stone, palm wide open and muttered a few words from a long forgotten language. I opened my eyes and smiled triumphantly when I saw the basilisk's tail two centimetres from my face.

Apart from hand to hand combat, Flammarius had also instructed me in magic. It wasn't the magic used nowadays however, using incantations and formulas in an archaic language that was created and forgotten thousands of years ago permitted the caster to summon a spell. The downside was that the spell didn't come from nothingness, it used the caster's vital energy; professional mages could endure hours of casting spells, however I could not, seeing that I had only just begun and my body wasn't used to the sudden drops in energy although in short battles like this one they usually come in handy.

I looked at the petrified basilisk and smirked, yes smirked, something I picked up from Gippal I guess. I ran towards it and climbed up its back, knowing that with my luck the spell would end in a few seconds. When I reached its neck my grip on the stone tightened as I aimed for its eye. I felt a tremor underneath me and realised that my spell was losing effect and therefore din't have any more time left. I quickly stabbed the fiend in the eye and landed in a crouch when it burst into pyreflies.

"**Very good Baralai, one of your best fights yet,"** Flammarius praised. **"The stop spell was used very well, you're getting the hang of using ancient magic."**

"It's all thanks to you Flammarius," I answered as I walked towards the two birds. "Shall we go back now?"

"**I should think so, it's already getting dark."** I walked up to Cyjeuin and stroked her feathers tenderly, she cooed happily as she lent in for more caresses. I gave her a final pat on the neck before climbing up onto the saddle resting on her back. I looked up at the sky as we made our way back to Flammarius' hut. It was basically the same routine everyday since my hand had healed, in the morning I would get up early to find Flammarius already up, he would teach me either theory in close combat or magic, we would find something to eat and then in the afternoon I would battle the fiends we encounter in the Calm Lands to put the theory I learnt previously into practice, after that we would head back towards the hut and usually Flammarius would tell me stories and legends that were common back in his time. By his time I refer to the time when Lraan, the Commander and his fellow companions were alive.

Tonight was different to the previous nights, tonight as I sat down beside the fire Flammarius joined me with a solemn air about him, tonight I knew something was going to happen... I knew it the moment Flammarius looked me in the eye without blinking, a contained emotion hiding in their depth.

"**I know what you are trying to do Baralai,"** his mental voice echoed in my head. I put on a confused expression but inside my heart sunk, I had been found out.** "I appreciate what you are trying to do, but please... don't."** He must have seen my hurt expression because he added, **"Don't take it the wrong way, I know that your intentions were good hearted but you are Baralai, not Lraan or anyone else. The memories hurt too much to let them be revived." **

I nodded, understanding how the bird felt, but nonetheless I was still hurt. I lifted my head to look into his eyes, an apology ready on my lips but I was cut off again.

"**Don't fret, I will continue teaching you magic and fighting skills if you wish, on the condition that you are willing to learn for your own benefit and not to resemble Lraan in any way."**

I lowered my head, concentrating on the blades of grass that were swaying in the light breeze.

"I understand, I'm sorry…" I looked into Flammarius' coal black eyes. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble I would really like to continue my magic and close combat classes."

"**There's no need to apologize young Praetor. It is no trouble at all, in fact I'm glad I'm able to pass on my knowledge so that it won't be lost in the rivers of time."**

I glanced up at the red chocobo, surprised. He never talked about his past, the only exception had been when he had found me and Cyjeuin. A couple of nights after meeting Flammarius I had told him everything that had happened, from the ruby eyed warrior's rejection to my fight with the lupine fiend.

Flashback

A low snarl rumbled through the fiend's chest, a puff of hot breath mingled with the chilly night air as it panted, trying to regain it's lost energy. Its eyes gleamed menacingly as it turned to face its prey, a prey that was putting up a good fight but was, however, losing concentration. The fiend snarled again and advanced on its soon to be dinner, the figure in front of it collapsed, too tired to continue fighting. Letting out a victorious howl, the fiend crouched back on its hind quarters and pounced, its claws slashing as it went. In a feeble attempt to protect itself, the prey raised a bloody arm to cover its head. The fiend, with a powerful swipe, knocked the arm away, revealing a mop of snowy white hair, drenched in crimson coloured blood.

Chocolate irises were revealed when my eyelids flew open, my chest rising and falling heavily, my heart about to burst out of my ribcage. I raised a trembling hand to my hair, sighing with relief when it came back clean.

"It was a nightmare, just a stupid nightmare," I muttered to myself, my head between my knees, rocking gently back and forth. The fiend that had appeared in my dream was the same one that I had encountered before meeting Flammarius. I waited until my heartbeat had returned more or less to normal before stepping out of the hut and going to sit on the edge of the grassy cliff that gave way to a huge drop. I crossed my legs and gazed out into the darkness, the glittering stars above me providing little, but sufficient, light. I let my mind wonder, something I usually do when I can't sleep. As usual they led to a certain silver haired swordswoman. Every night I replayed what had happened in Bevelle, and every time I found that her behaviour was stranger than usual. Everything had been fine, no not fine, wonderful… but out of nowhere she had decided she didn't love me anymore. Perhaps she had never loved me and thought that she would give up her charade. My heart beat painfully at that thought. No! Don't think like that, there must be a reason… my sigh was lost in the midnight breeze as I gazed up at the stars. A light bulb flashed over my head when I remembered something, something that I thought I had imagined but maybe not… before she had said that she didn't love me anymore a flash of pain had racked through her crimson coloured eyes. I sighed again, sensing that I wasn't going to get anywhere unless I talked to her. I nodded to myself, I had made a decision. I would go and look for her, but not straight away, I still needed some time to myself. I jumped when I heard someone behind me. I turned and saw Flammarius coming up quietly to sit beside me.

"**You look troubled Baralai."**

"Mmm… I would be lying if I said I wasn't."

"**Do you wish to talk about it?"**

I rubbed my bandaged hand, I trusted Flammarius. After all he had taken care of me and taken me in and I really needed to take this weight of my heart. I lent back on my good hand and organized my thoughts.

"It all started when I walked past a jewellery shop in Luca…"

I told him everything, my doubts, my thoughts and my fears. I told him about my plan, the one that consisted in standing in front of a group of stampeding chocobos, I told him about my fight with the chimera and the burning machine, my meeting with Cyjeuin and last of all my fight with the lupine fiend and the loss of my weapon… When I finished Flammarius nodded and stood up.

"**If you ever need anything Baralai, I will be here to aid you but never, I repeat never, think about throwing your life away again."**

I nodded and walked back towards the hut beside the red chocobo. I fell asleep with the image of my ruby eyed warrior burning in my mind.

End Flashback

Now as I watched the red bird contemplate the fire I knew that I needed to know more about him. It wasn't everyday that one found a fire coloured chocobo that claimed to have lived over a thousand years ago.

I cupped my chin with my hand as I sat down cross legged in front of the fore, thinking about the best way to approach the subject. I lifted my head and looked at Flammarius nervously.

"I-I… Flammarius, there've been several things on my mind lately and I was wondering…"

"**You can ask me as many questions as you wish, curiosity isn't a sin Baralai."**

I was startled by how direct the bird had been. In a few seconds thousands of questions begun to burn my mind: is he really thousands of years old? How does he do it? How does he talk mentally? Other chocobos can't, does that mean he isn't really a chocobo? What was he doing in the Calm Lands? Where there other like him back in his time or was he unique even then? So many questions… I decided to start at the beginning.

"When you told me your story, you said that you were from a time before Sin and yet you are still here, alive. How… how come you've lived for so long?"

Flammarius continued gazing into the fire distractedly, at first I thought he hadn't heard me but I realised he was thinking about the answer.

"**Do you remember that I told you about a mysterious figure dressed in white that gave me a second chance?"** I nodded. **"Well, it asked me if I wanted a second chance and I replied that I wished to have that second chance to complete my promise to Lraan, my promise to live his life for him. I have a theory… I believe that until I live through all the things that Lraan wanted to live through I will not die. That is why I have lived for so long, I don't know every little thing that Lraan wanted to do in his life."**

I looked at Flammarius, gaping. That couldn't mean…

"Do you mean that you could die at any moment?"

"**I guess so****."**

"But, but how can you live like that?"

"**I have nothing to lose in this life, all I care about is completing my promise to Lraan."**

I did a double take and shot Flammarius a hurt look. He just chuckled. **"That was before I met you Baralai. Now I have a new reason to live."**

"But I thought you said that you would only live until you completed your promise."

"**True, but it is only a theory and I'm sure Lraan wouldn't let me die now that I've found happiness once more****."**

I admit it; Flammarius will never cease to surprise me. Inside, though, I was swelling with happiness because I was making Flammarius happy. I didn't need a plan, because I had already cheered him up.

"**Next question?"**

I jumped, I had lost myself in my train of thought.

"Um… how do you talk? I mean how come I hear your voice in my head?"

"**It is something that was perfectly normal, obviously my species hasn't evolved d****uring time, in fact it has done the complete opposite…"**

"So you really are a chocobo?"

"**Of course, what, if not, did you think I was?"**

"…"

Flammarius let out a hearty bird like chuckle when I didn't answer. I just looked bashfully at the floor.

"Do… do you have any special 'powers'?" I put air quotations around powers, I simply couldn't find an other way to say it.

"**I'm able to communicate with other beings mentally, including fiends; I can also control the element of fire and I have natural white magic; I can transfer thoughts and memories mentally to others, like a sphere playback; and I can read peoples hearts."**

I blinked.

"…hearts?" Flammarius nodded.

"**Yes, not their minds, but what their heart feels."**

"Oh… but then…" I stopped abruptly when Flammarius stood up quickly and looked towards the path that led up to the main plain of the Calm Lands. I chose to remain silent, not wanting to break Flammarius' concentration.

"**Baralai, look over there and tell me what you see****."** I looked in the direction Flammarius was and saw a huge shadow dominating the scene.

_What the hell is that?_

"**I don't know and I'm afraid that is not good news."**

I gaped at the bird, had he just read my thoughts? He looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

"**No I can't read thoughts but if you voice your thoughts mentally I can hear them."**

I nodded and looked back at the shadow, but it had disappeared.

_I don't like this…_ I looked around and saw that Cyjeuin had come up and was now standing beside us.

"**It's gone."**

We returned to our positions at the campfire and sat side by side, enjoying each others company. The recent revelations had given me a lot to think about. I remebered something Flammarius had told me when he found me and smiled.

"Flammarius, as a thank you for everything you've done for me I'll introduce you to Lady Yuna, she's a personal friend of mine."

"**I would be most honoured Baralai, thankyou."**

I nodded and stroked Cyjeuin's feathers with my goood hand. My injuered one has healed but it still throbed painfully from time to time.

The peaceful silence was broken by a lound gunshot followed by a huge explosion. I jumped up and looked around, there was nothing different but I recalled the shadow we had seen just moments before. I turned and looked at Flammarius anxiously. He stood up calmly.

"**I will go an****d find out what has happened, stay here with Cyjeuin."**

I nodded and sat down by Cyje again, stroking her to calm her down. I waited patiently for Flammarius to return but the minutes went by and sleep overcame my body. Cyjeuin nudged me awake at the sound of Flammariu's returning footsteps. I rubbed my eyes and blinked serveral times to get the sleep out of my eyes. I turned towards the red bird and my eyes widened in surprise. He was walking slowly for there was something on his back. When he was closer to us the kneeled down and placed the body gently on the floor nest to me. I took one look at the figure and let out a strangled yell.

"What the hell is he doing here?! What happened?!"

My eyes never left the sight of my best friend as Flammarius answered.

"**I searched for the place where the bomb exploded, if it was a bomb of course, but all I found was him."**

I approached the blond albhed, the one with which I had shared so many adventures. I gasped when I saw blood leaking out of his lilac cloured shirt. I kneeled by his side and ripped the shirt off, revealing a long and deep cut running from just underneath his left shoulder to his right hip. I never had the guts for facing blood but this was my best friend. I took my green coat off, revealing my own white shirt underneath. I ripped that off and began to bandage Gippal's chest. Once my provisional bandage was in place I covered him up with my coat and prayed silently for a miracle.

"**I can help."**

I jumped at the quiet voice, having completely forgotten that Flammarius and Cyjeuin were still there with me. I looked up at Flammarius with desperation burning in my eyes.

"Please, please, do anything you can, just make sure he'll be okay."

"**I will do as much as I can, but the battle is also his.**** He must put up with the pain the healing will cause to heal him."**

"He's strong, I know he is. He'll make it, please just do it."

I let the fire coloured bird approach Gippal and waited as he healed him. It seemed like eternity, but I was willing to wait for much, much more if it meant that Gippal would survive.

Flammarius kneeled down beside Gippal's body and closed his eyes, concentrating intensely. Soon the tribal like markings surrounding his face began to glow white and I had to close my eyes so as to not be blinded. Once the light had died down I opened one eye cautiously, partly afraid of what I was going to see.

My shirt and coat had been removed. Gippal's chest was still covered in blood, but the cut was now a bright white line. I looked up at Flammarius in amazement. The poor bird was exhausted, the amount of vital energy that must've taken to use a cure spell of that strength had to be brutal. Flammarius looked at me tiredly.

"**That is all I can do, I've used a spell that help to close up wounds faster and it also helps with the scarring, but I'm afraid that he will be branded with that scar for the rest of his life. All you can do now is clean up the blood on his chest, don't worry about more bleeding, the wound is closed externally."**

"Externally?" I whispered. Flammarius nodded.

"**The regeneration of cells and tissue is now up to him and his body. If he's as strong as you say he is, he will be fine in a few days."**

I nodded, still numb from shock. I looked around for something to clean my friend up with but all I saw was my shirt and coat. Not wanting to leave his side, I reached for my shirt and muttered a few spells to clean the dried blood off it. I proceeded to summon some water to moisten the shirt and started to gently wipe off blood, but also the dirt and grime from the explosion. After a good half hour I managed to leave Gippal's chest as clean as possible, staying away from the bright white line as much as I could.

I stood up to stretch my legs, they had cramped up after not moving them for quite some time.

As I stood up I shivered. I looked around me warily but then I realised that I had shivered from cold. I cursed myself mentally for being so stupid. I was standing outside, bare from torso up in the middle of the night. Flammarius had fallen asleep next to Gippal, but he had feathers to keep him warm. It was Gippal I was worried about…. I crouched down next to him and picked him up gently, trying not to move him around too much.

_Damn he's heavy _I thought as I carried him towards the hut. I pushed the cloth flap aside and placed Gippal down on the only bed. I rummaged around under the straw mattress to find a couple of extra blankets. I tucked him up so that he was completely covered and couldn't move around too much, a bit like a cocoon. Once I had checked that he was breathing without difficulty I sat down and lent against the side of the bed, in a way that if I turned my head I was able to see Gippal's face without difficulties.

I spent the next three days at Gippal's side. I refused to go and get food and I only fell asleep when exhaustion took over me. Cyjeuin sat outside the hut, keeping guard. There just wasn't enough space in the hut for the three of us. Flammarius poked his head in from time to time, insisting that I eat something; I always shook my head and replied that I had to watch over Gippal. Since Flammarius had healed him, he had been fine, but from time to time came fits of fever and he started to get delirious. That was when I would wake up with a start and rush to get a damp cloth to put over his forehead. Several minutes would go by and I would start to get desperate, reaching to the point in which I would shout out that I would go and get a doctor no matter how far I had to go. But then the fever would go down and Gippal would continue unconscious, looking as thought he was sleeping peacefully.

At the break of dawn on the fourth day I felt a stir from underneath the blankets. It woke me immediately from my light slumber and turned my head to see Gippal's emerald eye shining amusedly at me.

"Hey man, did you really have to tuck me up like this? I can't move."

I blinked absently at him and began to laugh, relieved.

"That's the whole point." I said still chuckling. I felt so light headed, it was as though a huge weight had literally been lifted off my shoulders.

"Argh, my head," Gippal winced as he tried to free an arm. He shot me an accusatory glare but an amused smirk played on his lips. "Do you mind?"

"Huh?"

"I would like to be able to move again ya know?"

I shrugged and carefully unwrapped him from the blankets.

"Be careful though, don't move around too much." I warned as he started to struggle with the remaining sheets. Once he got one of his arms free, he lifted his hand to the back of his head, but it never got there. He winced painfully and put his hand over his chest instead.

"Damn, what the hell did you do to me? Or did Nooj shoot me again?"

I stared at him, mouth agape and eye wide open.

"W-what?"

I stared in even more confusion when he started laughing.

"Y-you should h-have seen your f-face!" I rolled my eyes, typical Gippal. He wakes up from a four day comatose state and he starts joking around. "No seriously, you should've seen yourself in the mirror. Talking about mirrors, have you actually seen yourself lately?" his voice changed immediately, a serious expression on his features. I shook my head, how the heck was I supposed to go and preen in front of a mirror when my best friend was near death?

"You look horrible man." He noted grimly.

"I think looking after you was the top priority, don't you think?"

"What do you mean looking after me? I can take care of myself perfectly well thank you." He replied as he made a move to sit up. He winced again and lay down. "Okay, maybe not," He turned to look at me. "What the hell happened?"

"Well basically, there was an explosion somewhere in the Calm Lands, Flammarius went to investigate and he found you, but…" I shuddered unconsciously, Gippal noticed.

"But what?"

"You were injured… pretty badly… You scared the living daylights out of me. You were unconscious at the time and haven't woken up until now," Gippal looked at me inquisitively. "Four days." I answered the silent question the albhed asked. His eyes widened immediately.

"Four days?!" I nodded. Gippal shook his head in disbelief. "No wonder I feel so cramped up." He looked down at the shirt that was covering his chest and reached for the first button hesitantly.

"Gippal," he looked up. Our eyes locked for a few seconds.

"That bad is it?" he grinned. I hung my head.

"It could have been a lot worse I can tell you that."

Gippal reached for the button again and began unbuttoning the shirt slowly. When the last of the buttons had come undone, the shirt fell open to either side and Gippal just stared at his now scarred chest.

"…rumo cred," he murmured. I looked up and saw a thin line that went from just underneath his left shoulder to his right hipbone and, if you looked closely, was glowing with a pale white light. I closed my eyes, pained to see my best friend scarred for life. My eyes snapped open when I heard a snicker. I looked at Gippal to see him laughing silently. "Rikku is so going to love this." I could've hit him but, then again, he was Gippal. He sobered up almost instantly. "Damn machina."

My ears perked up at that.

"Machina?" I asked, remembering the shadow that Flammarius and I had seen before the explosion.

"Uh-huh, I was…" I held up a hand to interrupt.

"I think we should start from the beginning, but first I want to introduce you to two special someones."

"Sure, wait you mean that Flammarius guy? Pretty weird name if you ask me, where is he?"

"Do you think you'll be able to walk?"

Gippal lifted himself up carefully onto his elbows, gritting his teeth. I noticed and placed a hand on his arm.

"If you can't don't worry, we'll wait until you're fully cured."

Gippal shook his head.

"Nah, I'm fine, seriously," he added when he saw I looked at him in disbelief. "It just burns a little."

I watched as he inched himself up, gritting his teeth and wincing now and then. Once he had sat up fully I draped his arm around my shoulders and helped him to stand up. Being in the Crimson Squad had toughened up the leader of the Machine Faction, but still, a wound of that depth and size was still very serious. I was just thankful that Flammarius had been able to cure him, if I had been alone... I didn't even want to think about it.

"Hey, the scar doesn't burn so much now," Gippal said, surprised. I watched as he took his arm off my shoulders and took a few hesitant steps around the hut. "I think I'll be okay, man you really have to tell how you cured it so quickly."

I shook my head. "I didn't cure you, Flammarius did." Gippal's mouth formed a small 'o', then he closed his mouth and grinned sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, when am I gonna meet the guy?" he smirked and walked towards the door, but stopped and placed a hand on his chest. I went over to him worried, but he waved his hand and muttered "It's fine, but I think I'm gonna have to take things slow." I nodded and waited patiently by the door to lead him outside. I lifted the flap and held it up for Gippal to pass through, letting it down as I came out behind him. As I turned around I nearly bumped into himl. He was standing still, looking around with a very confused look on his face. He turned to me and arched an eyebrow.

"We are still in the Calm Lands aren't we?"

"Of course, where else?" Gippal shrugged.

"Dunno, I've never seen this place in the Calm Lands before."

"Flammarius likes the location, it's very appropiate for him."

"Okay... so, where is he?" Gippal asked looking around. I searched the area as well but I couldn't see Flammarius o Cyjeuin anywhere. Just then I heard some crunching noises. I whipped around but relaxed when I saw Cyjeuin trotting up behind us.

"There you are," I smiled and went to pat her neck. Cyjeuin warbled and closed her eyes contentedly. She opened them almost immediately and ruffled her crest, I turned around to see who she was trying to intimidate and saw Gippal standing there with his arms crossed looking somwhere in between annoyed and bemused. I laughed, I couldn't help it. To see Gippal standing there, being so... Gippal. It was a relief, after four days of endless stress, to see him feeling so much better. Gippal raised an eyebrow when I started to laugh, pouting slightly.

"If possible, could let me in on your 'oh so funny' joke?"

"It's nothing, I've been in need of a good laugh lately." I said as I looked at the floor, the happy moment gone as memories flooded back to me. Gippal noticed and started to walk towards me, in attempt to find out what was wrong.

"**He's also been in need of a good friend, which****, by the way he hasn't left your side in four days, I would suppose you are."**

I looked up, not surprised to see Flammarius walking towards us. Gippal, on the other hand, had stopped suddenly, eyes wide open in shock.

"D-did you hear that as well?" he asked. I nodded, a small smile playing on my lips.

"Yes, meet Flammarius, your saviour."

"My saviour?" I looked over his shoulder. Gippal saw and turned around quickly to face his so called saviour. He winced, though, as he turned, twisting his torso around painfully. I chuckled slightly when I saw him jump back in surprise when he saw Flammarius. He looked at me, shock and disbelief showing on his face.

"'Lai, if this is some kind of sick joke, it's not funny. Why the hell am I staring at a red chocobo?! Red chocobos don't even exist!"

"**Baralai, I would appreciate it if your friend realised that I,**** quite clearly, exist." **Flammarius said as laughter danced in his eyes. I chuckled again and turned to Gippal.

"Gippal, this is Flammarius. He was the one that found you after the explosion, brought you here and healed you."

"You must be kidding right? How can a bird know white magic?"

"I think you must've noticed by now that Flammarius isn't any ordinary bird." I pointed out as Gippal looked at Flammarius curiously, the mistrust having disappeared now that he realised the red bird didn't pose any danger to them. Suddenly Gippal started grinning.

"Well, Flammrius, thank you, thanks for everything." Flammarius nodded.

"**You're welcome, any friend of Baralai'****s is." **Gippal turned to look at me, I had walked over to Cyjeuin and was patting her neck again.

"'Laaai, I think you still have some explaining to do." I grinned and gave Cyje a final pat on the neck and walked over to where Gippal and Flammarius stood.

"Alright then, it's quite a long story so I would suggest you made yourself comfortable."

Gippal nodded and started to sit down slowly next to the campfire, holding a hand to his chest, his face pulled into a grimace. I sat down next to him as Flammarius crouched down on the opposite side of the mound if ashes and burnt twigs.

"It all began when..." I stopped when I saw Flammarius jump up swiftly and started to worry when he ruffled his crest. He usually didn't, but something about the way his eyes were shining made me realise that something wasn't going right. Gippal had noticed as well.

"What the ...?" he was cut of when we were plunged into darkness, as though the sun had gone out. I looked up at the sky, scared out of my wits, not knowing what to expect. As I predicted, what I saw caught me totally off guard. A huge figure was standing so tall that it blocked the sun's rays, only it wasn't a figure it was...

"Vilgehk machina!!" Precisely what Gippal said... there was no time to react, the machina hurled what seemed like a huge rock at where we were all standing.

"**Quickly, Baralai get on Cyjeuin. Gippal do you know how to ride?"** Gippal was still dumbstruck but he snapped out of it and nodded, getting onto Flammarius' back with difficulty. I, in turn, ran back to where Cyje was standing and mounted her in one swift jump.

"Go! Go, run!" I yelled, but Cyejuin was already sprinting away. Flammarius was several metres in front of us, Gippal holding onto his neck for dear life. _Of course, Flammarius hasn't got a saddle..._ I decided to stay behind just in case Gippal fell off. In a normal state there wouldn't be a problem, but, even though his injury was healed, it was painful all the same. He could hardly walk without wincing, how the heck was he going to ride a sprinting chocobo?! I took my mind off Gippal for a moment and looked behind us. The huge projectile was still hurtling towards us but now it seemed even larger. My mind was frantically searching for places to hide, then it struck gold.

"Flammarius we have to get to Clasko's! Clasko's!! The person who runs the chocobo farm!" I yelled as loud as I could, not knowing whether Flammarius could hear me or not. I sighed, relieved, when I heard his voice answering.

"**Very well."**

Now we had come up the slope that leads to the wooden bridge that connects to the main plain of the Calm Lands. We had just set foot on the other side of the bridge when we heard a huge crash, the shockwaves sending us several feet foward. We didn't waste any time, Cyje and Flammarius got up quickly and started sprinting towards the rocky crevice where Clasko's chocobo farm was. I looked at Flammarius and realised that Gippal wasn't on his back.

"Cred" I yelled and looked back. There he was, lying on the floor where the chocobos had fallen. I didn't hesitate, I pulled back on the reins and turned Cyje around and we sprinted back to where Gippal was. Before we got here though a red blur came past us and picked Gippal up. Then I heard Flammarius' voice.

"**Turn around, now! We have to get under cover."**

I had no idea how Flammarius had gotten there so fast but I turned Cyje around again and we continued our race to safety.

Once we where behind the rock wall that kept the chocobo farm from view I jumped off Cyjeuin's back and rushed to where Flammarius had layed Gippal down. He was still conscious, thank Yevon, but he was breathing heavily. When I kneeled down beside him he smirked and said,

"I really need to train some more, huh?" I gave him a gentle shove and replied,

"Dammit Gippal, when will you stop scaring the cred out of me, huh?"

"Oh wow, 'Lai swearing, I never thought I'd see the day..." I rolled my eyes, but deep down I was so relieved that nothing serious had happened to him. Immediately I remembered the machina, and it's attack... I turned to Flammarius.

"What was that?" but Gippal answered for me.

"The machina I was called out to check up on, only suddenly it has tripled in size..."

"What?!"

"Clasko called at the Djose temple saying that there was some kind of huge machina on the rampage. I decided to go and check it out, and guess what? It decided to have a bit of fun and made something or other explode. I was caught in that explosion and then everything went black. When I woke up I found myself wrapped up like a cocoon."

"Hey what's going on? Huh? Praetor Baralai, Mr. Gippal? What are you doing here?"

A young brown haired man in an old Chocbo Knights uniform stepped out of the building embbed in the rock face.

"Clasko, we need a favour to ask of you." I said as I watched Clasko take in the little group that had appeared in front of his buisness and home. Afterall, it's not everyday you find a red chocobo, a Machine Faction leader and the Praetor of New Yevon at your door. Cyje of course had no problem, she was a perfectly normal chocobo. Clasko fell back in shock when he saw Flammaruis.

"W-wha..."

"Please, we need somewhere safe to stay. Undoubtedly you heard the machina's newest attack."

Clasko gaped at Flammarius but nodded quickly when he noticed Gippal was still lying on the floor.

"Of course, sorry. Come in, come in." He scrambled back inside to calm some of the chocobos that had been startled by the crash. I helped Gippal up and walked him inside, Cyjeuin at our tail. When looked back I saw Flammarius standing outside still, looking back in the direction from where we had escaped. I looked foward when I heard Clasko's voice calling out from somewhere deeper in the building.

"Here, over here. This is the cleanest place at the moment, you can lay down on my blanket over there if you like."

I followed the voice and turned a corner to see a little makeshift camp which was without doubt where Clasko slept. I helped Gippal lie down on the blanket and watched Clasko as he bustled around with a bucket of greens.

"Hey 'Lai, I believe we have to catch up on a few things don't you?"

"Mmh, I believe I still owe you an explanation right?" Gippal nodded and sat up to lean against the wall. Cyejeuin had sat down by my side and I was leaning against her, trying to put my thoughts into order. Just then Flammarius came in and sat down on the other side of Gippal. He looked at me solemnly and said,

"**The object that the machina threw was of great proportions, ****the hut is no more and the bridge will need repairing."** He turned to look at Gippal. **"Has the rest of the Calm Lands been evacuated?"** Gippal nodded.

"When I got the call from Clasko I came here immediately and closed off the area myself."

Clasko, upon hearing his name, poked his head out from one of the pens, gave the chocobo inside a last stroke and came to sit by us.

"**Baralai,"** I looked at Flammarius. "**I do believe you were going to tell Gippal something."** I nodded and wondered where to start.

"It all started when I came across some extraordinarily strong fiends, a chimera and two burning machinas to be exact..."

I told Gippal and Clasko everything that had happened, from the fiends' attack, Cyjeuin's apperance, Flammarius' intervention, to the machina's last attack. The last part was mainly for Clasko's information, seeing that Gippal had already lived through it himself.

"So, you're telling me that you think that the machina and the extra strong fiends are connected some way?" Gippal asked. I nodded and glanced at the scar that ran across my hand. Clasko was gawking at Flammarius, unable to believe that Flammarius was actually a chocobo that was more than a thousand years old. The red bird was watching the floor with what appeared to the naked eye as indifference, but I knew he was thinking about many things, too many perhaps. Everything that had happened in the last few days had happened so quickly and suddenly that it was hard to process.

There was a machina on the rampage, extra strong fiends were appearing, Gippal had been seriously injured and if it hadn't been for Flammarius, the possiblilities had he could've ended up in the Farplane were too high, this machina had attacked us and had caused an explosion somewhere else in the Calm Lands, and we had found out that it was growing larger... We had a major problem on our hands. When I pointed this out, Gippal nodded darkly and put his head between his knees, but Clasko had something to say. He hesitated a bit but when he saw I nodded to let him talk he said nevously,

"I think we should call Lady Yuna, Lady Rikku and Lady Paine, I think they could help us."

Gippal's head shot up at the mention of Rikku's name.

"No," he said slightly hoarsely. "I'm not putting Rikku in the middle of this, and I think Yuna has had to save the world too many times, don't you think? People should begin to rely on Spira's leaders and leave the ex-High Summoner to live her life in peace."

"I agree, Lady Yuna has the right to live in peace after all that she's done for Spira, but knowing her she'll come and help the moment she finds out, it's in her nature. The best thing is, then, to not tell her or any other Gullwings," I looked at Gippal's emerald eye shining and I knew he was planning something. "Well, what do you suppose we do?" Gippal lips curved up into a smirk as he cracked his knuckles.

"We're gonna get rid of this...problem, but first we're going to Bikanel." I felt the andrenaline rush through me, exactly the way it used to back in the days of the Crimson Squad. I smirked as well.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Hope you liked it!! Tell me what ya think kay?


	10. An authors note, and apology

An authors note…and apology… To all my readers, I truly am sorry, I only hope you can forgive me for having abandoned my story for such a long time. Sometimes there are things in life you just have to do and you have to push away what you want to do most... I would like to inform you all that I am going to continue Misunderstandings, and I have started a first editing of it. The edited prologue has already been written and is uploaded, so please, read and enjoy it, I will be hoping for some feedback.

To all of the loyal readers who have stuck to this story, thank you, truly, thank you. This story will be dedicated to all of you.

Kkuki7792

**ATTENTION READERS:** Chapter 1, edited version, has now been uploaded ^^ Enjoy!!


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